BRUSSELS – “Anyone who says we manipulated the situation to Serbia’s advantage.” he doesn’t look at the situation“The use of terms like appeasement and their propagation in some circles of the Kosovan government is really disrespectful to bilateral relations,” US envoy to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar told ANSA. Escobar is jointly involved in a mission in the region with the European mediator Miroslav Lajcak to reduce tensions between Belgrade and Pristina, he said “very toxic misinformation”adding that “everything we have done in the last 60 days has benefited Kosovo”.
“If Belgrade and Pristina turn their backs on the Ohrid Agreement” to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo, “They are turning their backs on Europe, with all the consequences that ensue.”But because there is a commitment on our part, it is also a signal as to whether or not they want a closer relationship with the transatlantic community,” Escobar added.
With regard to the deteriorating relations between the United States and Kosovo, “the will to continue supporting Pristina has not changed,” he later stressed. “On a political level,” he continued, “the question arises: does Kurti want to work with the entire transatlantic community, not with the United States?” work, This has consequences for him, not for us“, was continued.
“The possibility of a conflict in the Balkans is “very slim”“But I do not rule out that there will be violence and that this will be just as destabilizing,” said the ambassador in action. “There are certainly people who are feeding off the crisis and benefiting from the escalation, both in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the difference is that we have it very capable peacekeepers from both NATO and the European Union in both countries to ensure a safe environment,” he continued.
However, Escobar clarified that further violence “will be just as destabilizing” and stressed that “an even bigger problem in some parts of the Balkans, particularly Bosnia, is not the conflict”. but the economic collapse as a result of state dysfunction and ethnic tensions”.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti He, meanwhile, said he had not received any ultimatums from EU and US envoys related to the crisis situation in the north of the country. Speaking to reporters today, the prime minister added that at the recent meeting in Pristina with Lajcak and Escobar, he offered a “safe way out” of the crisis in the north, which he says was caused by the illegal structures in which Serbia still maintains Kosovo.
“I did not receive any ultimatums, we met and spoke with the emissaries, to whom I offered a safe way to resolve the crisis in northern Kosovo caused by Serbia’s illegal structures,” Kurti said. “First of all the rule of law, we had dozens of NATO soldiers, Kosovar police officers and journalists who were victims.” unprecedented brutality by violent extremists“All of this cannot be solved with pressure and threatening consequences and maybe even sanctions against the most democratic and progressive state in the Western Balkans,” added the prime minister, referring to his country and showing “convinced” that we can clarify the ambiguities. “
Yesterday, during his visit to Pristina with Lajcak, US Envoy Escobar said that Kurti he had two days to respond to the demands made of him during the talks – rapid de-escalation of tensions in the north, rapid new elections in the northern Serb-majority areas, return to dialogue to normalize relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
Escobar had added that he and Lajcak will report on the situation on Friday and will report on whether progress has been made in attempts to resolve the crisis surrounding Serb protests against the election of new Albanian mayors in the large Serb-majority municipalities in the north . The two envoys from the EU and the US ended their mission last night after a meeting with the Serbian President in Belgrade Aleksandar Vucic. In addition to Kurti, they had previously seen Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani, opposition leader and representative of Srpska Lista, the largest party of the Serb community in Kosovo, in Pristina.