United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

The cancellation of a joint meeting between the two governments due to the tense situation in Kosovo's Serb-majority north has further damaged already frayed relations between Albin Kurti and Edi Rama.

EU spokesman Peter Stano on Wednesday said the 27 EU member states had "unanimously" agreed to take "reversible and temporary measures" against Kosovo, "depending on the development on the ground and credible decisive steps by (Kosovo) Prime Minister (Albin) Kurti".

According to Stano, "the EU has prepared proposals with measures with immediate effect".

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Wednesday the groundwork for Tuesday's arrest of a Kosovo Serb in Kosovska Mitrovica - as well as for any further arrests - had been laid by Pristina days beforehand.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke by phone with US Senators Chris Murphy, Jeanne Shaheen and Pete Ricketts on Tuesday.

The situation in the north of Kosovo-Metohija was the sole topic of the conversation, the presidential press office said in a statement.

Speaking about the proposal for the Draft Statute of the CSM that Edi Rama sent to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that the Albanian Prime Minister should propose something like this to President Aleksandar Vui for the Albanians in Preevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, reports Reporters.

The founder of the Forum for Ethnic Relations, Duan Janji, said that the Draft Statute of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, which Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama sent to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, was an attempt to prevent a disaster for Kosovo Albanians, so that, as he said, they would not fall out of favor with the USA, reports RTV.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday Pristina must make concessions to ensure Serbs in the north of Kosovo-Metohija participate in new elections there.

"Serbs (in the north of Kosovo-Metohija) are always ready to talk, but you have to offer them something," Vucic told Reuters in an interview.

Kosovo's Prime Minister told the Associated Press that his cabinet took a different stance, calling the authorities in Serbia an "autocratic regime." "We insist that good behavior with an autocrat does not make him behave better. On the contrary," Kurti said.

Gamble

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti outside the Government building in Pristina, Kosovo, October 27, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

Prime Minister Albin Kurti's strategy to install ethnic Albanian mayors in Serb-majority municipalities in the volatile north despite US and EU objections is causing consequences that aren't good for Kosovo, analysts say.