The special envoy of the United States for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, has said that the European plan for Kosovo is good and that it “doesn’t suit either party” and that the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, will “lose the opportunity” if he does not agrees to implement it.
He also announced that the punitive measures for Kosovo due to the disregard of the demands of the Western allies, do not include the departure of the KFOR peacekeeping forces.
Escobar said this on Friday in a conversation with Croatian journalists in Zagreb before leaving for the Dubrovnik Forum, Hina agency reports on Saturday.
Escobar made these statements at a time when the north of Kosovo is facing unrest.
The riots erupted after the elected Albanian mayors of four Serb-majority municipalities took office with police assistance, following local elections that were boycotted by the majority of Serbs.
The American envoy said that there are “positive indications” that Belgrade can accept the EU’s demands for an exit from the crisis, but that he cannot say the same for Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti.
“We hope that (Kurti) will at some point meet the European and American demand,” said Escobar.
Asked what consequences this could have for Kosovo and if one of them would be the withdrawal of the NATO mission in Kosovo (KFOR), Escobar said that this possibility “is not on the table”.
“Our partnership with Kosovo is a partnership with the Kosovar people, not with a party or a political figure”, said the American envoy for the Western Balkans.
He emphasized that the consequence of not accepting the European plan is a lost opportunity.
“This is not a punitive measure, it is a lost opportunity. This is happening to Kosovo now because it is not coordinating with its partners”, added Escobar.
Serbia is continuously seeking the formation of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of Kosovo, which is foreseen in the Brussels Agreement for the Normalization of Relations from 2013.
Kosovo is trying to prevent that association from having executive powers, stressing that it does not want something like Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina on its territory.
