Kosovo government released, police withdraw elections in autumn

The Kosovo government officially announced that it has agreed to reduce the presence of police forces in the north and that it simultaneously supports holding new local elections in four Serb majority municipalities. This government agreement is part of a European and US bid to reduce tensions.

Kosovo's chief negotiator in dialogue, Besnik Bislimi, and the European Union's envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, met in Bratislava and agreed on steps and actions to defuse the situation in northern Kosovo. This meeting was aimed at creating preconditions for reinforcement of the “focus on full implementation and conditioning for the basic agreement on February 27th and the Ohrid annex date March 18th”, said in a communiqué of the Kosovo government, which published the four points agreed upon.

Kosovo ready for deceleration of the situation.

Kosovo's “Government publicly shows its readiness to contribute to the escalation of the situation and the non-compliance of actions that could have been shut down in the country's north. That includes a recent reduction in the amount of 25% police presence and around municipal officials.

Kosovo police, along with EULEX and KFOR, will, according to the need, appreciate the security situation, in particular, to look at the possibility to reduce the presence of police in the area and around the municipal entities”, the report says.

Early Elections in Northern municipalities

Also “Kosovo's government has a public statement on whether to hold early elections in four municipalities in the country's north and at the same time after the true season. Kosovo expresses dedication to ensuring the legal basis needed to organise these elections”. And in the end it also says that the “European Union will invite the two chief negotiators to Brussels with the aim of finalising the process of processing the agreement towards normalisation, after which implementation of all provisions of the” agreement will begin. The actions of the insane will be finalised within a two-week period.

Ursula von der Leyen: Run the guide.

The next week, however, is expected to mark a new phase of actions to reduce tensions in northern Kosovo. Western diplomacy has repeatedly sought to reduce tensions through the suspension of police operations in the north, the transfer of mayors to alternative offices, and early elections with unconditional participation of Kosovo Serbs in the election.

European Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyen said before the start of the second day of the NATO Summit that “Kosovo and Serbia should implement the Guide for which” have been hired.

“has a dedicated and clear plan, a guide. I call on both sides to escalate and adhere to the guides. This is absolutely vital to moving forward peacefully. It is clear that both sides must fulfill what they have agreed to”, European Commission Chairman Von der Leyeen said.

At the Kosovo Government meeting Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Kurti has explained to ministers and opinion on the Kosovo- The EU, reached in Bratislava, for the despass in the four northern municipalities.

This agreement containing the first steps of the deespass, the withdrawal of 25 per cent of Kosovo police members from and around municipal facilities, is starting to apply tonight. This has been confirmed to Gazeta Express in recent hours late Wednesday evening by Kosovo Police, who have suggested they are implementing the government's decision. Under the agreement, the reduction of the number of police officers there, sent after the deployment of mayors in municipal offices, will take place on the basis of consultations between police, KFOR and EULEX. The Express reports that lowering the number of members of the police could happen in two weeks if conditions are found on the basis of the assessment, of the three institutions mentioned above, were created.

Establishing a Legal Basis for Elections

According to one of the entry points Bislimi-Lajcak, the Kosovo government has a public statement on whether to hold early elections in four municipalities in the country's north, and at that point after the new season.

Kosovo expresses commitment to ensuring the legal basis needed to enable the organisation of these elections” is said in the communiqué the government sent last night. As the newspaper teaches, this is about adopting a petition regulation aimed at announcing elections in four northern municipalities.

Also, according to these sources, the removal of EU measures could be considered before next Wednesday, even though European diplomacy chief Josep Borelli today sought to take further positive steps towards enlargement. Removing EU measures has asked Prime Minister Kurti, who has said today,

The “both sides should have the opportunity to negotiate from equal positions, which has been violated by the deployment of temporary measures against Kosovo on the part of the EU”.

Otherwise, the EU has invited Kosovo and Serbia's chief negotiators for a meeting next week that could be in place to sequence implementation of the Brussels Agreement.

“Emisari has invited the chief negotiators to Brussels next week to continue discussions on the implementation of the new road agreement on normalisation and the annex of its implementation, in the hope that the parties will agree on the next steps that allow full implementation of the Agreement to begin without further delay of”, EU press official Zoï Mulett has told Gazeta Express on Wednesday.