(Brussels) The European Union on Wednesday threatened the Kosovo authorities with “political consequences” if they did not take decisions to ease tensions with the Serbian community in the north of the country.
“We expect Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti to take steps towards de-escalation. Otherwise, there will be political consequences, with the suspension of visits and high-level contacts, and temporary and reversible measures,” warned the spokesperson for the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell.
“These are not sanctions, but restrictive measures,” he insisted.
The spokesman, however, acknowledged that the suspension of EU financial support was under discussion. “A series of measures have been proposed to member states and are under discussion,” he said, without further details.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers is scheduled for June 26 in Luxembourg.
Violence erupted last month in northern Kosovo when the Kosovar government installed ethnic Albanian mayors in four towns in the region, after local elections largely boycotted by Serbs.
Thirty soldiers from KFOR, the international force led by NATO, were injured in clashes with Serb demonstrators.
Summoned to act, Albin Kurti presented a five-point plan to try to initiate a de-escalation, including new elections in the four contested municipalities. He also called for the “immediate” resumption of discussions with Serbia under the aegis of the European Union. But the clashes continued.
Serbia, supported by its Russian and Chinese allies, has never recognized the independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former province a decade after a deadly war between Serbian forces and Albanian separatist rebels.
Around 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo, a third of them in the north of the territory, which has a population of 1.8 million, the vast majority of whom are Kosovar Albanians.
The Serbian minority remains largely loyal to Belgrade and refuses to recognize the sovereignty of Pristina. Kosovo Serbs are accused by some of being instrumentalized by Serbia.