European Commission spokesman Peter Stano expressed concern today about the "unilateral actions of the Pristina authorities" and stated that there will be consequences for failure to de-escalate the tension between Serbia and Kosovo, TANYUG reported, quoted by BTA.
On Friday, Kosovo police raided municipal buildings in Leposavich, Mitrovica, Zvecan and Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo, where mostly Kosovo Serbs live. On Sunday, the Kosovo authorities placed trilingual signs (in Albanian, Serbian and English) in front of the municipalities with the inscriptions: Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Local Self-Government Administration and Ministry of Labor and Transfers.
Pristina's unilateral actions were condemned by the European Union Mission in Pristina, as well as by the US Embassy and the ambassadors of Germany, Great Britain and France.
At a press briefing in Brussels, Stano said today that the EU's aim at this stage is to organize a new negotiation meeting between Belgrade and Pristina at the level of chief negotiators, but did not specify when that meeting could be reached.< /p>
In his words, the recent events in Northern Kosovo are an uncoordinated unilateral step that “does not help at all, but has the capacity to increase tensions and lead to further escalation of the already volatile region”.
„And what will the EU do? We, of course, express our position and our dissatisfaction with this series of uncoordinated unilateral actions by the Kosovo authorities in Pristina. I can only recall that last year there were conclusions of the European Council in which the member countries were extremely clear – the failure of the parties to de-escalate the tension will have consequences”, Stano said.
This morning, Kosovo Serbs were unable to take their jobs in the Mitrovica municipality building in northern Kosovo, as they were prevented by the police.
Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs do not recognize the independence of Kosovo declared in 2008. Belgrade and Pristina are conducting a dialogue to normalize relations under the auspices of the EU.