9 minutes agoSüddeutsche Zeitung: Kosovo dispute ? Serbia has alarmed NATO
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)The renowned German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung has painted a description of recent developments in northern Kosovo. Lately, when the leadership of NATO intervened, it becomes clear this has to do with more than just license plates. Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the Alliance of Defence, did not address the protesters they have [...]
Lately, when the leadership of NATO intervened, it becomes clear this has to do with more than just license plates. Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the Alliance of Defence, did not address protesters who have blocked the two border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo for more than a week, but governments in capitals: “Belgrade and Pristina”, he demanded, would have to refrain from “and start the dialogue”.
The cause for the recent escalation was a decision by the government in Pristina, under which drivers when passing over to Kosovo should set a temporaryly valid local license plate. Of course, this response to the government's long practice in Belgrade to force Kosovo drivers on their border side to use Serbian plates.
The escalation is a disaster for the EU
After members of the Serb minority in northern Kosovo began blocking the truck border in protest of the new Targat decision, Kosovo sent special police units to that region. Belgrade then added troops of soldiers near the border and made military planes fly over the area.
The escalation is a disaster for the European Union. Following the end of Donald Trump's US administration, which had sparked open-minded unrest over the exchange plans for areas along the Kosovo-Serbian border, expectations actually increased in Brussels that the EU-mediated dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade could be revived. EU Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell called on both sides to make “unconditionalally state” the situation, writes Süddeutsche Zeitung.
On Monday, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, hosted ambassadors from Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France and the US, who reportedly urged him to extend the situation to the border. He then said in a television interview that in a conversation with “the ambassador of one of the most powerful countries in the world” (the name he did not say) was made “emoral” times: “You want to tell me where our units are allowed to move inside our territory? Are you normal, man? In an official statement, Vuciq had stated that he is still committed to the Brussels Agreement for normalising relations between the two states, but said he would by no means accept Serbia's “collapse and its citizens”.
NATO-led peaceful international mission KFOR has already increased routine patrols throughout Kosovo, including northern Kosovo.
