The European Union's special envoy for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, and the US special envoy for the Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, are expected to visit Pristina and Belgrade next week, more precisely on Monday and Tuesday, they have diplomatic sources in Brussels told Radio Free Europe.
Their visit, according to these sources, will have two main purposes:
The first goal is to find a solution to get out of the current situation which risks damaging everything that the EU considers to be a success in the dialogue. So, the focus will first be on reducing tensions and continuing efforts based on what has been proposed after the meeting in Moldova.
In Moldova, on June 1, the leaders of Germany and France, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, asked Kosovo and Serbia to hold new elections in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, during their meeting with the presidents of both countries, Vjosa Osmani and Aleksandar Vucic.
While the second goal will be the continuation of the work in sequencing the steps to implement the agreement reached in Brussels and the annex on which the parties agreed in Ohrid.
The European Union had called the reaching of the agreement on the path towards the normalization of relations as an "exit from the phase of crisis management to a phase of normalization".
However, due to the escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo in recent days, for which the responsibility was transferred to the Kosovo authorities, who insisted that the elected mayors of the municipalities enter the buildings, the EU's activity has again turned to the management of crises.
Diplomats in the EU say that it must be ensured that the recent tensions in the north do not jeopardize the agreement reached, therefore they call for an immediate and unconditional reduction in tensions, and for the parties to return to dialogue and the normalization process.
Protestat në tri komuna në veri të Kosovës – zonë e banuar me shumicë serbe – filluan më 26 maj, kur grupe të serbëve lokalë u grumbulluan para objekteve komunale për të protestuar kundër hyrjes së kryetarëve të rinj shqiptarë të Zveçanit, Zubin Potokut dhe Leposaviqit në to.
Përshkallëzimi në veri të Kosovës kulmoi të hënën, më 29 maj, kur trupat paqeruajtëse të KFOR-it ndërhynë në Zveçan “për të shmangur përplasjet mes palëve dhe për të minimizuar rrezikun e përshkallëzimit”, dhe u sulmuan nga disa protestues të dhunshëm, që qeveria e Kosovës thotë se ishin “banda kriminale serbe”.
Nga kjo përleshje që ndodhi, 30 ushtarë të KFOR-it u lënduan.
Shtetet e Bashkuara dhe aleatët thanë se përdorimi i forcës minon përpjekjet për normalizimin e marrëdhënieve Kosovë-Serbi dhe bënë thirrje për qetësim të situatës.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has constantly defended the actions of the Kosovo Police, which helped install new Albanian mayors in municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo, despite the resistance of local residents./REL