Dispute over Serbian car number warns NATO: Kosovo is threatened with a new outbreak of violence Hundreds of people are missing after the earthquake in Indonesia

There are signs of a storm in northern Kosovo: more than 20 years after the end of the war, tensions between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs are so great that observers fear a new outbreak of violence.

NATO, present with a 3,700 strong security force including Swiss soldiers as part of the KFOR mission, is alarmed. It is important to prevent a new escalation under all circumstances, warns Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, speaks of the “most dangerous crisis” since the end of the armed conflict.

At its core, it is about sovereignty

What is it about? Kosovo ostensibly has a dispute with Serbia over car registration plates. The predominantly Serb population around the town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo still uses Serbian number plates years after the declaration of independence. The government in Pristina no longer wants to accept that and has issued a law according to which only Kosovar numbers are valid on the territory of Kosovo.

The Serbs in the north should convert their cars or face fines. Albin Kurti, the Kosovo Prime Minister, justifies this with equal treatment in Serbia, according to which number plates issued by Kosovo are invalid there. Essentially, it is about the sovereignty of Kosovo and the right to administrative sovereignty in its own territory.

Several deadlines had already passed before the new rules would take effect. Shortly before the final deadline in early November, representatives of the Serbian minority threatened to erect roadblocks. There have also been arson attacks on cars with Kosovar license plates.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic moved army units to the border and the Kosovan government also increased special police patrols in northern Kosovo. In early November, Pristina then fired the police chief in the Serb-dominated north. A little later, ethnic Serbs resigned from Kosovo’s civil service. Hundreds of police officers, judges and civil servants stayed at home. 135 police officers from the EU mission Eulex had to intervene to ensure a minimum of security.

Is the EU foreign policy representative a credible mediator?

The EU, for its part, has been trying to mediate for years. On Monday, the last attempt failed with a bang. After eight hours of non-stop negotiations in Brussels between Serbian President Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell had to give up in frustration.

Criticism subsequently arose that Borrell explicitly blamed Kurti for the failure of a compromise. “There is a responsibility for the breakdown of the talks and for any escalation and violence that could take place on the ground in the following days,” Borrell said, leaving no doubt that he blamed Kurti.

However, the Spaniard is not very popular with the Kosovars anyway. He, whose country, like four other EU countries, does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state, is not seen as an impartial mediator. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused Borrell on Monday of presenting a “distorted view of reality” and always favoring the “aggressors”, namely Serbia.

Prime Minister Kurti stressed that he was open to compromise, but only if the whole picture was considered. By this he refers to the internationally widely supported initiative of Germany and France, which aims to de facto normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Kurti accuses Borrell of dropping this plan.

Failing a solution and escalating the situation, the US intervened on Tuesday and asked Kurti to postpone the deadline by 48 hours, which he promptly did. The United States is still regarded as a protective power in Kosovo, as it was Washington that made independence possible in 2008. A solution to the dispute should be sought by Thursday with the involvement of Washington and the EU. Whether it succeeds remains to be seen. (aargauerzeitung.ch)