The European Union urged the Kosovar authorities and ethnic Serbs to provoke a “serious dialogue” to return to state establishments after they boycotted municipal elections with the goal of pushing for extra autonomy.
The boycott underlined {that a} Western-backed plan verbally agreed to by the Kosovo and Serbian governments in March was not working. It aimed to defuse tensions by granting native Serbs extra autonomy with Pristina retaining final authority.
“These elections do not offer a long-term political solution for these municipalities,” EU overseas affairs spokesperson Peter Stano stated on Monday, referring to a northern space of the 90% ethnic Albanian nation the place Serbs type a majority.
“There is an urgent need for a serious dialogue. It is imperative that we urgently restore a situation where Kosovo Serbs participate actively in local governance, policing and judiciary in the north of Kosovo,” he stated in a press release.
Stano stated the bloc regrets that not all events and communities exercised their democratic proper to take part and vote within the elections.
”The very low turnout, specifically amongst Kosovo Serbs residents, exhibits that this course of just isn’t and can’t be thought of business as traditional,” Stano stated.
“These elections don’t provide a long-term political answer for these municipalities. This can solely occur by way of a everlasting return of Kosovo Serbs to the establishments, and for Kosovo to allow this return,” he stated.
The EU additionally urged the authorities to ascertain the Serb group within the north of Kosovo.
”The work on the institution of the Association/Community of Serb majority Municipalities must be finalized as quickly as potential… There is an pressing want for a severe dialogue between the Government of Kosovo and Kosovo Serbs within the north to this finish. So far little progress has been made. Therefore, we want each side to play their position and fulfill their commitments,” Stano stated.
Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated tectonic modifications occurred in Kosovo’s native elections.
“This is a historic end result as a result of nothing related has ever occurred on European soil for the reason that Second World War, for the turnout of a nation to be 0.029 %,” Vucic stated at a news convention.
According to him, the Serbs demonstrated distinctive unity and self-discipline.
“The Serbs behaved not solely nationally but additionally as a really sturdy individuals who know what pressures they’re below, however a individuals who had been prepared to point out huge dedication to oppose the Gauleiter in essentially the most dignified manner,” he stated.
Vucic added that the OSCE and the EU didn’t monitor the elections.
“They didn’t have time to visit the polling stations from the EU Office and the Quinte (U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Italy) countries, I guess so they wouldn’t see any irregularities,” he stated.
Vucic stated he’ll “probably” participate within the subsequent spherical of EU-mediated talks with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, scheduled in Brussels on May 2, regardless of “expecting nothing” to return out of that assembly.
“I’m afraid that this can be a prelude to a a lot deeper disaster,” Vucic stated.
However, political analyst Dusan Janjic believes the elections usually are not reliable.
“If the first Brussels Agreement was ratified as an international treaty, then they are problematic from the point of view of legality because the main goal of the election is the integration of Serbs and not Albanians,” he instructed the Serbian Tanjug news company.
Kosovo Serbs boycotted the extraordinary elections in 4 municipalities within the nation’s north on Sunday.
Voting ended with solely a 3.47% turnout, based on the Kosovo Central Election Commission (KQZ).
The KQZ stated 1,567 out of 45,095 registered voters within the area headed to the polls till 7:00 p.m. native time (1700 GMT).
A complete of 11 candidates ran for mayor in North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposavic, and Zvecan, in addition to 60 candidates for metropolis councils in Zvecan and Leposavic.
Some 50,000 Serbs who stay there haven’t acknowledged Kosovo state establishments since Pristina declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a guerrilla rebellion, as an alternative seeing Belgrade as their capital.
Kosovo’s election fee stated the turnout in Sunday’s native elections within the north was 3.47%. All 4 elected mayors had been from ethnic Albanian political events together with two from the ruling Self-Determination Party of Prime Minister Albin Kurti. The solely Serb candidate drew solely 5 votes.
Serb officers within the north resigned collectively in November 2022 in protest on the Pristina authorities’s plan to interchange Serbian automotive quantity plates courting to the pre-independence period with quantity plates with these of Kosovo.
They are demanding the implementation of an affiliation of semi-autonomous Kosovo Serbs municipalities that was agreed with European Union mediation a decade in the past, earlier than participating in any election organized by Pristina.
Kurti accused the Serbian authorities of orchestrating “a threatening campaign” intimidating Serbs within the north who had been prepared to vote.
Risky safety in northern Kosovo
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani introduced that the elections within the northern municipalities had been postponed on April 23 as a result of dangerous safety scenario.
Osmani’s resolution got here after the withdrawal of Kosovo Serbs from central and native establishments in Kosovo.
The elections had been beforehand scheduled for Dec. 18 final 12 months.
However, throughout the election marketing campaign, over 10 parked autos belonging to Serbs had been set on fireplace by unknown individuals or teams.
Earlier this month, a Serbian official accused Kosovo authorities of attempting to incite Serbs within the nation by taking pictures a member of the local people.
Petar Petkovic, the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, instructed native media that Serbian nationwide Milan Jovanovic was shot with a police firearm on the northern Leposavic-Mitrovica highway.
Later Kosovo police introduced the suspension of 4 officers suspected of involvement, together with one who could have fired the shot.
The Kosovo Central Election Commission determined to cut back the variety of polling stations from 44 to 19 for the elections.
Thirteen of the facilities are different and can be arrange in containers in protected areas.
Kosovo, primarily populated by ethnic Albanians, seceded from Serbia in 1999 and declared independence in 2008. Serbia has not acknowledged its independence and considers its former province to be a part of its territory.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
