Discoordination for closing parallel structures: How and Why International Embassys Respond

During a police operation yesterday, Serbia's parallel municipalities in Lipjan, Obilic, Pristina, Fushe Kosovo, Vushtrri, Novoberda, Kamenica, Viton, Rahovec, Skenderaj, and parallel tax office post.

The event for closing parallel municipalities was conducted yesterday in ten municipalities in the country, without authorisation of the prosecution.

From the Constitutional Prosecutor in Pristina, they said they have not authorised the Kosovo Police to conduct raids and raids, and that there were no official requests for the case.

Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said the chapter of parallel institutions closed from yesterday. “In the Banja and elsewhere in all other parts of the Republic of Kosovo, municipal objects, posts, tax offices and all remains of parallel institutions end up”, said in a post on social networks.

“These parallel criminal institutions of Serbia have no place in the Republic of Kosovo”, said Kosovo Minister of Local Power Elbert Krasniqi already.

The Constitutional Prosecutor in Pristina said in the afternoon that he has not authorised the Kosovo Police to conduct searches and raids, since there was no formal application to the issue.

In the communiqué issued by the Prosecutor's Office, the prosecution's body has reportedly not authorised the conduct of raids on these locations since there was no official written request from the institutions and no evidence was provided to them to create the suspicion that a criminal offence was under way.

The state's “Procuror in view of the fact that in this case the necessary procedures, decidated in the Republic of Kosovo Criminal Procedure Code, have not been allowed to issue any authorization in concrete cases. The state prosecutor is willing and committed to the prosecution of criminal acts and perpetrators, always based on legislation in power, as well as based on the principle of equality and not discrimination of all citizens of the Republic of Kosovo”, the prosecution's response said.

Kosovo police said through a communique that the purpose of the operation was to establish order and legitimacy, and at the request of the Ministry of Management of Local Power, have helped officials of this ministry cut off the illegal activities of these institutions.

All police actions have been carried out in co-operation and co-ordination with competent institutions, depending on the findings, further legal measures will be taken, in co-operation and co-ordination with justice bodies”, the police communiqué says.

This prompted Justice Minister Albulen Haxhiu to react to the prosecution, who announced there has been no co-ordination with the Kosovo Police over the closing shares of parallel structures in several locations in Kosovo.

Haxhiu has named this reaction “scandalous”.

In addition, she has attacked the prosecution, asking rhetorically that “in whose service are they? ”

United States, European Union condemned Pristina's actions

The US Embassy in Pristina has said that yesterday's actions by the Government of Kosovo to close Serbia's parallel institutions in several Kosovo municipalities directly and negatively influence ethnic Serb citizens of Kosovo and other communities and may undermine Kosovo's aspirations to join the Euro-Atlantic community.

The Kosovo Government's “Action for the closure of Serbia-led institutions directly and negatively affects Kosovo's citizens -- ethnic Serbs and other communities -- and could undermine Kosovo's aspirations to join the Euro-Atlantic community”, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Pristina for Express has said.

This American Embassy spokesman has now said these actions were against American councils, and as such weakens confidence and limits US opportunities to help Kosovo for a better future.

These actions, against our best advice, weaken trust in relations and limit our ability to help Kosovo ensure better and brighter future for all its people. We're continuing to monitor the situation. Please follow our online platforms for additional reactions from the US Embassy”, the answer concludes.

Pristina's Constitutional Prosecutor came out in response, where he said these raids were carried out without her authorisation.

In the communiqué issued by the Prosecutor's Office, the prosecution's body has reportedly not authorised the conduct of raids on these locations since there was no official written request from the institutions and no evidence was provided to them to create the suspicion that a criminal offence was under way.

The state's “Procuror in view of the fact that in this case the necessary procedures, decidated in the Republic of Kosovo Criminal Procedure Code, have not been allowed to issue any authorization in concrete cases. The state prosecutor is willing and committed to the prosecution of criminal acts and perpetrators, always based on legislation in power, as well as based on the principle of equality and not discrimination of all citizens of the Republic of Kosovo”, the prosecution's response said.

Belgrade reacted sharply to closing parallel institutions

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic in an interview for B92 television said terror against Serbs in Kosovo is visible, while stressing that the Serbian state will take care of citizens who are out of work. He said he will soon meet with Serbs from Kosovo, representatives of the Serbian List and representatives of all Kosovo bodies.

Serbia's Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said that yesterday's actions co-ordinated by Kurti's (Albin) government mark a dangerous escalation. He wrote on social networks that these actions are not only an attack on institutions, but an open effort to undermine the collective rights and identity of Serbs in Kosovo.

He said these are the electoral actions of Albin Kurti, who, according to him, is ignoring human rights by violating agreements aimed at protecting peace and co-existence. He demanded that the international community remain silent.

Meanwhile, Serbia's chief negotiator for talks with Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, cancelled attending the Joint Commission's inaugural meeting for missing persons, due to what the situation created on the ground said. He said that it is already clear to all including the European Union that it is Pristina, not Belgrade, to blame.

The Serbian official said that with these actions, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “is first showing that he does not care about dialogue, nor does the Association of Serbian municipalities and no Serb living in Kosovo”.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Kosovo Government Commission for Missing Persons, Andy Hoti, said the meeting was not fulfilled because of Serbia's refusal. Mr. Petkovic's presence in Brussels wrote on social networks “is the most clear evidence that he did so and guaranteed the failure of the previous meeting, turning a vital technical process into a shameful tool of politicisation and obstruction”.

Mr. Hoti wrote that Serbia's rationale for not participating in the meeting except that it is banal is also harmful for the process of lighting up the fate of missing persons and has nothing to do with the topic they have been called to Brussels.

Emisari the European Union for Kosovo-Serbia talks, Miroslav Lajcak, said it has met separately with both sides. Kosovo introduced its priorities. Serbia has announced no participation in a joint meeting due to developments in Kosovo”, Mr. Lajcak wrote.

The yesterday meeting was expected to be the first of the joint Commission on Missing Persons, a month after Kosovo and Serbia's chief negotiators Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petkovic agreed to implement the declaration on missing persons, which was part of the agreement reached in Brussels and in Ohrid on normalising relations.

In May 2023, Kosovo and Serbia's leaders signed a joint statement on missing persons during the war in Kosovo, through which they pledged “full implementation of the” obligations for lighting the fate of about a thousand and 600 persons for whom nothing is known even about 26 years after the end of the war.