Emmanuel Macron denounces “the responsibility of the Kosovar authorities”

A clear condemnation. Emmanuel Macron denounced, Wednesday, May 31, “the responsibility of the Kosovo authorities” in the aggravation of the situation in Kosovo after violent clashes which injured 30 soldiers of the NATO force. “Very clearly, there is a responsibility of the Kosovar authorities in the current situation and a failure to respect an agreement which was nevertheless important and which had been sealed just a few weeks ago”said the French president during a press conference in Bratislava, Slovakia.

For the past few days, the situation has been very tense in the region, which has been going from crisis to crisis for years. Many members of the Serbian community, which is the majority in four northern towns, do not recognize Pristina’s authority and are loyal to Belgrade.

“A mistake to proceed with these elections”

The Serbs boycotted the April municipal elections in these localities, which resulted in the election of Albanian mayors with a turnout of less than 3.5%. Their enthronement, the week of May 22, by the Kosovar government set fire to the powder. “We made it very clear to the Kosovo authorities that it was a mistake to proceed with these elections”underlined Emmanuel Macron.

The French Head of State criticized Kosovar officials for not having respected the agreement which had crowned a process initiated under European mediation, with the particular involvement of Czech negotiators, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell and himself.