EU-Kosovo strike deal on reducing police presence in north

The government of Kosovo has agreed to reduce the presence of police in the northern municipalities of the country that have been plagued by tensions with Serbs over the last months, amid a deal with the EU’s Miroslav Lajcak at a meeting in Bratislava.

Kosovo police had an increased presence in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country following protests against ethnic Albanian mayors taking office. The mayors were elected after Serbs resigned en masse from national and local government as well as all state structures, including police. They then boycotted the elections to replace them, following a call from Belgrade to do so.

Following some of the most severe violence seen since the end of the 1998-1999 war, including the injury of NATO officers, the EU called on Kosovo to de-escalate and withdraw its police presence and slap it with sanctions for non-compliance.

According to a government statement, the meeting in Bratislava between Lajcak and Besnik Bislimi, in charge of negotiations within the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, was to create preconditions for strengthening the full and unconditional implementation of the 27 February Brussels agreement and the 18 March Ohrid annexe which paves the way for the eventual recognition of Kosovo by Serbia.

As a result, “The government of Kosovo publicly shows its readiness to contribute to de-escalating the situation and the non-undertaking of actions that could escalate the situation in the north of the country. This includes an immediate reduction of 25% of the police presence in and around municipal buildings”, the communiqué states.

In addition, the Kosovo police, along with EULEX and KFOR, will assess security in the region, possibly reducing the police presence in municipal buildings further.

The government will also support holding early elections in the four northern municipalities after the summer, ensuring the legal basis for their organisation.

Furthermore, the EU will invite the chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia to Brussels to finalise the sequencing plan for the agreement towards normalisation, after which all contract articles will be implemented.

All of the above actions, the government said, will take two weeks.