In Kosovo there is “an explosive situation that must not explode, which is why Italy wants and must be the protagonist of the pacification of the Balkan area”, in which there are also “many candidate countries to join the EU”. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said this on Tg1, recalling that “it is no coincidence that in that territory there are already 700 Italian soldiers who are well regarded by both Kosovars and Serbs and who are a guarantee of peace and stability”. «I spoke with Serbian President Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Kurti, inviting them not to take unilateral initiatives and to work for a de-escalation. Italy has a say in the matter because it has always followed the area with great attention ”, he added, underlining that“ important immigration routes also pass through the Balkans ”.
The Balkans, an area of chronic and dangerous instability in the heart of Europe, are returning to the fore due to the re-emergence of inter-ethnic tensions in Kosovo, where the Albanian Muslim majority and the Serbian Orthodox minority, the latter linked with a direct line to Belgrade, are increasingly struggling to live together.
Unknown in the evening threw a Molotov cocktail at the home of a Serbian family near Gracanica, a Serbian enclave a few kilometers from the Kosovar capital Pristina. Zoran Trajkovic, who was at home with family at the time of the attack, said that his pregnant wife and one of his three-year-old children were particularly afraid of him. However, no injuries were recorded, only material damage to the house.
As reported by the media in Belgrade, the Serbian family had already been the subject of attacks and provocations in the past. A few months ago on the fence in the courtyard of the house there was an inscription praising the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army which fought against the Serbs in the armed conflict of 1998-1999, while previously Zoran Trajkovic had been attacked and beaten by some Kosovars of Albanian ethnicity. Condemning the attack, the director of the Serbian government office for Kosovo Petar Petkovic said that it is the consequence of the anti-weed hatred policy carried out by Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
New tensions, these, which cause great apprehension in the European chancelleries, for fear of new outbreaks and possible clashes in the background of the not distant Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The EU High Representative Josep Borrell and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani intervened in the last hours to try to appease the spirits with appeals for dialogue and moderation: both contacted Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
The failure of Serbia to recognize the independence proclaimed in February 2008 by Kosovo, still considered a southern province and an integral part of the Serbian territory, makes the collision of positions and interests inevitable, with the local Serbian population, supported by Belgrade, which disputes the Pristina measures intended to reaffirm its full state sovereignty.
To ignite the dust of the protest again was the obligation imposed by Pristina on the re-registration of cars with Serbian plates, which must be replaced with the Kosovar one with the initials Rks (Republic of Kosovo). A measure in stages, the deadline for which to comply was set at April 21, 2023, but which already provides for fines of 150 euros for those who have not yet done so from the end of November.
So far very few Serbs have changed license plates, out of an estimated total of about 9,000 cars with Serbian registration. Thousands of Serbs – more than 10,000 according to local sources – demonstrated today in the northern (Serbian) sector of Kosovska Mitrovica, the northern city of Kosovo divided by the Ibar River, to demand the withdrawal of the provision by chanting nationalist slogans in a waving of flags Serbs. But the issue of license plates is not the only reason behind the new tensions.
For some time the Kosovo Serbs, together with the Belgrade leadership, have accused the Pristina authorities, and in particular Prime Minister Albin Kurti – a radical politician and strongly anti-Serbian positions – of discrimination against them and of not respecting the agreements already concluded in the ‘area of dialogue facilitated by the EU, starting with that of 2013 which envisages the creation of a Community of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo.
An organism that Pristina does not want to hear about, considering it contrary to the Constitution (which prohibits mono-ethnic entities in the country) and a re-edition of the Republika Srpska, the entity with a Serb majority in Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose leader Milorad Dodik is in the crosshairs of the international community for its growing secessionist aspirations. After the Serbs announced in protest on Saturday the withdrawal of their representatives from all political, judicial and police institutions in Kosovo, and in fear of a dangerous escalation of events, international diplomacy immediately got to work.
Also due to the mounting of mutual accusations, with Pristina denouncing the destabilizing role of Serbia, whose policy is compared to that of Vladimir Putin’s Russia towards Ukraine. Foreign Minister Tajani said he was concerned and called on the parties to moderate and resolve any problems through dialogue and negotiation. “I have assured our commitment to stability in the Balkans,” the minister said, referring to telephone talks. Borrell was also on the pitch, who appealed to avoid unilateral actions that could create further tensions.