Kosovo sees a clear Serbian strategy behind the recent tension in its country’s north to block a recent EU proposal and expresses frustration with pressure from its Western allies, with the EU having yet to call out Serbia’s actions, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani told journalists in Berlin on Friday.
Relations between Kosovo and Serbia have been deteriorating at a rapid pace in recent weeks, much to the disappointment of the EU and the US. Currently, the EU and US are pushing Kosovo to resolve the fragile situation in the country’s north, where the appointment of four Albanian mayors caused violent protests by the Serbian-dominated population.
For Osmani, this recent focus of the West on Kosovo is unjustified.
“There have been constant violations in these past two months, since March 18th of [the Ohrid] agreement by Serbia, but never so far did we hear a kind of a statement from the European Union saying, yes, this is a violation of the agreement,” Osmani told journalists in Berlin on Friday.
According to EU Commission Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Peter Stano, all 27 member states “adopted a series of measures” aimed at Kosovo, “which are incremental with financial and political consequences, for example, the suspension of high-level visits and events” for failing to address the tensions in the north adequately.
The tensions flared up shortly after an agreement on an EU proposal was made. Osmani is primarily blaming Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for the resurgence of regional tensions.
“Vucic went back to his old strategy, which is creating crisis after crisis, to block the success in implementing the dialogue agreement.”
Osmani also emphasised that the ompromise found with Serbia was a bitter pill to swallow for Kosovo. “Nevertheless, we trusted our allies and partners that [… the] agreement will help Kosovo and Serbia at least pave the way towards mutual recognition,” Osmani explained to journalists.
In contrast to the recent pressure by the EU, EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola stressed the Parliaments’ awareness “of Kosovo’s commitment to a European path and [the…] commitments to ensure the necessary conditions to advance down this path to continue to be implemented in earnest.”
However, what Kosovo is missing is “a clear roadmap” for EU accession. “Apart from just the rhetoric about the European perspective, there need to be concrete steps on how we move on, which is why we need to sit down and work with one another when there are things that we disagree on,” Osmani said.
(Kjeld Neubert | Euractiv.de)
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Uncertainty over Kosovo-Serbia meeting in Brussels, citizens protest for Kosovo in Vienna, Tirana
Source: euractiv.com
