Kosovo on the brink of war – clock is ticking, again

Kosovo on the brink of war – clock is ticking, again

After Serbia's president and Kosovo's prime minister held unsuccessful talks in Brussels on Monday, the threat of an armed conflict has intensified yet again. The Serbs were given a 48-hour grace period. Acting on pressure from the United States, Pristina's leadership postponed the fining of cars using Serbian licence plates.

WORLD POLITICS NOVEMBER 22. 2022 15:51

Another 48 hours

Although the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have spent hours negotiating with EU leaders.in Brussels on Monday, they haven’t managed to reach a deal regarding the licence plate issue. As a result, tensions have intensified in the north of Kosovo. As V4NA reported earlier, Pristina would have started to impose a 150-euro fine on motorists using Serbian licence plates from 8 o’clock on Tuesday. Pristina’s leadership, however, changed their mind in the early hours of Tuesday and postponed the measure’s introduction by another 48 hours at the request of the US, Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced on Twitter on Tuesday.

In his tweet, Mr Kurti thanked Ambassador Hovenier for his commitment and engagement in finding a solution.

„I accept his request for a 48-hour postponement on imposition of fines for illegal ‘KM’ (and other) car plates. I am happy to work with the US and the EU to find a solution during the next two days,” Kurti wrote.

Previously, the ambassador stated that „the U.S. is concerned that the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia were unable to reach an agreement today.”

„We have asked the Government of Kosovo to postpone for 48 hours the imposition of fines to allow the EU and the United States to further engage the parties to find a solution,” the diplomat underlined.

Germany’s ambassador to Kosovo agreed with his American colleague. Posting on Twitter, Jorn Rohde welcomed that Miroslav Lajcak, the EU’s special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, will have more time to work with the stakeholders on a solution.

„It is absurd to risk escalation over licence plates,” Rohde emphasized. „We need more statesmanship, less brinkmanship,” i.e. the pursuit of dangerous policies, if it involves the risk of clashes.

Border crossing points are peaceful, for now

On Tuesday morning, traffic across the Serbia-Kosovo border – or administrative crossing points, as Belgrade tends to describe them – was business as usual. As Serbia’s leadership refuses to recognise Kosovo as an independent state, it refuses to call the crossing point separating the two entities a frontier, even though documents are checked there. In the meantime, authorities have deployed special police units near the crossing points on the Kosovo side, according to press reports.

Belgrade has emphasized the importance of peace and stability all along. The situation is difficult, the conflict is close, but there is no reason to panick, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference on Monday after his return to Belgrade. Later that night, he consulted with Kosovar Serbs. From there, he sent the message that Serbia only wants to „keep what it has” and will demonstrate maturity. In his video shared on Instagram, President Vucic has called on Kosovo’s Serbs to maintain peace and stability.

„We stand with Kosovar Serbs. We have only asked them to be cautious, to remain calm, to maintain peace and to respond to the arrogance of others as decent people would. We just want to protect what is ours, and nothing more. I am sure that we, as a nation, will demonstrate maturity,” Mr Vucic said.

Meanwhile, Serbian diplomat Zoran Milivojevic has described the failure of the meeting in Brussels as a defeat for the European Union. This shows that Brussels is unable to lead the dialogue, and it is clear that the situation can be expected to escalate, he said. Several meetings will take place in the coming days, and the two sides now have until 8 am on Thursday to reach an agreement. If there is no deal, the owners of cars with Serbian licence plates can, in fact, expect penalties.

WORLD POLITICS

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kosovo, kurti, milivojevic, serbia, vucic