Northern Kosovo is a boiling pot again, and Pristina-Belgrade relations are once again a tightrope, given that both sides, Serbia and Kosovo, have long been playing with fire.

“Immediate de-escalation” in the region was demanded by Serbian Presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo, Vijos Osmani, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Moldova, calling for the immediate holding of “mandatory” repeated municipal elections in northern Kosovo from “the explicit participation of the Serbian community”.

A durable solution between Pristina and Belgrade

“We spoke very intensively and seriously with the President of Serbia and the President of Kosovo. Let’s see what happens in practice,” Olaf Soltz said, stressing the need for “a long-term solution to the conflict between Pristina and Belgrade on the basis of what has already been agreed.”

At the same time, both French President Emmanuel Macron and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell of Moldova expressed strong concern about the escalation of tensions in the region.

After the recent municipal elections in northern Kosovo, which were boycotted by the Serbian side, Albanian mayors were appointed, although the turnout was extremely low, below 3.5%. This event caused a sharp and violent reaction from the Serbian side, and armed Serbs attacked members of the NATO peacekeeping forces in the area.

Osmani is positive about repeat municipal elections

However, for her part, Kosovo’s President Viosa Osmani said yesterday that she was “ready” to consider Soltz and Macron’s proposal for a repeat election, which she said was envisaged in Kosovo’s constitution as a possibility. But at the same time, he called on Serbian President Vucic to refrain from any interference in the internal affairs of Kosovo by exerting pressure.

Kosovo, or Kosovo, which declared its independence in 2008, is now mostly populated by Albanians, and Serbia does not recognize it as a state. Tensions between the two sides often escalate, most recently over the Serbian side’s reaction to local elections in northern Kosovo, where Serbs are in the majority.