The powder keg in northern Kosovo opens another before Spanish and European diplomacy

HE Serbian nationalism and the Kosovar Albanian With the help of KFOR (close to 4,000 soldiers on the territory of Atlantic Alliance countries), destabilize once again a region that exploded in the 1990s and has struggled to find balance for more than two decades since. European Union EULEX. Added to the historical tension was an aggressive Russia against the West trying to heat things up in Serbia. Everything causes conflicts. The first was the use of Serbian license plates in Kosovo. Now it’s time for mayors to take office after the municipal elections.

The topic will occupy a part of the agenda Summit of the 45 countries of the European Political Community According to European diplomatic sources, he is in Moldova this Thursday. Heads of State or Government of Serbia, Kosovo, the 27th country of the European Union, Ukraine and the United Kingdom are invited to the meeting.

Kosovo is a republic of 1.8 million inhabitants, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 with the support of the USA and most of the European Union. Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Romania and Cyprus they did not recognize the legality of this one-sided statement. Since then, Kosovo has been a “limited-recognition State” by 97 of the 193 countries in the UN. The Kosovo Albanian majority rules the country. The Serb minority (about 120,000 people) mostly live in the four municipalities in the north of the country. They have never accepted the declaration of independence, they see themselves as part of Serbia and adapt to the policies dictated by Belgrade.

“Kosovo is a Unresolved conflict of sovereignty over Serb-majority municipalities; Chema Arraiza, who worked in Kosovo for the United Nations and OSCE from 1999 to 2008, “has been living in a kind of uncertainty that has persisted since the entry of international NATO troops (KFOR) in 1999”. that they occurred on the Mitrovica Bridge in 2000, when approximately 12,000 Albanian protesters were trying to cross the city bridge into the Serbian neighborhoods; or the ethnic violence that displaced thousands of Serbs from their homes in 2004. “The recent history of northern Kosovo is one of marmots, with serious but controlled conflicts that surface from time to time.”

In recent riots, still ongoing at press time, Serbian protesters prevent the mayor from taking officeHe got out of the municipal elections. Serbs in these municipalities boycotted the polls and did not vote in protest of the Kosovo government’s restrictions. Ethnic Albanian councilors were elected with only 3.5% turnout in these four Serb-majority municipalities. When they went to get the baton in the municipality of Zvecan, the Serbs tried to prevent it by force. Kosovo police tried to break through. Conflicts began. International soldiers from the Atlantic Alliance tried to bring order and separate the protesters from the Police, without success. Stones and Molotov cocktails began to pour in. As a result, at least 30 KFOR soldiers and 52 demonstrators were injured, three of them seriously. Serbia put its army on war alert on Friday and deployed it near the border with Kosovo.

“To understand this latest episode of violence, it is necessary to take into account that the new prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, is essentially an Albanian ultranationalist whose origins come from the political activism of a populist and anti-systemic force. (Vetevendosje!) Arraiza explains it as a company whose founding motto is “non-negotiation: self-determination”. “It is trying to impose the sovereignty of Kosovo on the territory of Kosovo with the Serb majority. There is a very extreme nationalism within Serbia that has been suspicious of the West since the Kosovo war. [1998-1999] and the bombing of Yugoslavia”.

After taking power in 2021, Kurti launched an aggressive campaign against the control of Belgrade by the minority Serb municipalities in the north. For example, Kosovo banned the use of Serbian license plates on its territory. Drivers are fined. Serbia replied bring elements of the security forces into Serb-dominated areas To counter the strength of the Kosovo police and NATO forces, Arraiza says. In November 2022, as a protest against the imposition of new bans, all Serbian civil servants and civil servants (including the police) stopped participating in Kosovo institutions.

Serbia asks Spain to block Kosovo’s accession

Spain and the European Union are facing a major political problem in the region. In 2012, EU Heads of State and Government granted Serbia the official status of EU candidate country. Six months ago, Kosovo tried to follow in its neighbor’s footsteps. It submitted documents to become a candidate country for accession.

Serbia has asked Spain and other countries that do not recognize it to stop it. Pedro Sánchez has always defended Belgrade’s position. He became the first Spanish president to visit the country last July. There he clarified Spain’s position: “It has been and will be with Serbia” In defense of “territorial integrity” in relation to Kosovo. Spain supports Serbia’s entry into the EU. However, Belgrade opposes EU sanctions against Russia, which is a major obstacle to its membership.

Meanwhile, Brussels is trying to mediate the conflict. The current tension could blow up the USA. dangerous deal Published in March by the Foreign Policy High Representative Josep Borrell. He met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti. He received a verbal commitment from them to implement the European Union’s roadmap to normalize relations between the two countries. However, the parties do not stop with trust. Kosovo believes that the autonomy sought to be given to the Serb-majority municipalities in the north will transform itself into a state within a state, with the influence of its historical enemy Belgrade. Serbia does not want to lose its remaining influence in the region, which it continues to see as part of its territory. For Serbian nationalism, Kosovo is the center of the founding myth, among other things, because the battle of 1389 between Serbian prince Lazar and Sultan Murad I of the Ottoman Empire took place here. They lost on land, but according to Serbian mythology, they won the heavenly war as Prince Lazar chose martyrdom over earthly power.