Kosovo opens new elections in Serbian municipalities

Leaders Kosovo yesterday they showed themselves ready to repetition of municipal elections April last year in four municipalities in the north of the country, which were the trigger for a new outbreak of violence in the small Balkan country. Repeating the election was the way out that the European Union proposed on Thursday at a mediating meeting on the sidelines of the European Political Union summit held in Bulboaca, Moldova, which was attended by the President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani and the leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.

Kosovo Prime Minister Alvin Kurti revealed his concession in a message on Twitter after a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser. “This requires an immediate end to mob violence sponsored by Belgrade until new elections are held in these municipalities,” was Kurti’s condition in the message. Kosovar Osmani expressed herself in the same spirit.

The tension escalated into riots last week when hundreds of Serb protesters prevented the elected mayors of four municipalities in the north of the country from taking office. The vast majority of the population of these Serbian cities decided to boycott the elections, which resulted in a turnout of only 3.4 percent. The Serbian community does not recognize as legitimate the Kosovo authorities that declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008.

The Kosovo police tried to guarantee the inauguration of the mayor, which caused serious clashes involving members of KFOR, a peacekeeping mission deployed 24 years ago, made up of soldiers from the US and EU countries. The most violent clashes took place last Monday, in which more than 80 people were injured, including 30 KFOR soldiers.

Electoral repetition was a proposal made at a high-level meeting in Moldova, in which the High Representative for EU Foreign Policy Josep Borrell; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. “What we asked from both parties is very simple: the organization of new elections in these municipalities as soon as possible. Four mayors were elected by the votes of less than 5% of voters, which is clearly not a condition for legitimacy», Macron said at the end of the meeting. So far, Pristina has ignored the existence of the political conflict and attributed the riots to a public order problem, describing the protesters as “criminal groups”.

different interpretations

The Serbian and Kosovo authorities have been negotiating some form of mutual recognition with the mediation of the EU for more than a decade. In fact, in 2013 they reached a declaration of principles known as the Brussels Agreement. However, both sides disagree on the interpretation of one of its main points. While the Serbian side believes that the text includes the creation of an autonomous Serbian entity within Kosovo, Pristina claims that the agreement only recognizes the possibility of mutual coordination between municipalities with a Serbian majority, but not the formation of an executive power.