The Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, James O’Brien, urged Kosovo on Monday to establish the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities while calling on Serbia to hold accountable those involved in the September 24 attack in the village of Banjska in north Kosovo.
The responsibility for the attack in Banjska against the Kosovo Police by a group of armed Serbs – where one policeman and three attackers were killed – was assumed by Milan Radojičić, the former deputy chairman of the Serb List – the main party of Serbs in Kosovo, enjoying the support of official Belgrade.
Kosovo blamed Serbia for the attack, which denied any involvement but left Radojičić free, with the condition not to travel to Kosovo.
In a post on the social network X, O’Brien said that full implementation of the agreements reached between Kosovo and Serbia in the EU-mediated dialogue is needed.
“We welcome Miroslav Lajčák’s visits with Albin Kurti and Aleksandar Vučić. The US strongly supports the EU-facilitated dialogue. Full implementation of the agreements is needed,” he said.
Welcome @MiroslavLajcak’s visits with @albinkurti & @predsednikrs. Strong 🇺🇸 support for 🇪🇺-facilitated Dialogue. Need full implementation of agreements, including ASM. New local elections in 🇽🇰's north should go forward; coordination before implementing new currency regulations.…
— Assistant Secretary Jim O'Brien (@StateEUR) January 29, 2024
The special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák, met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade on Monday before visiting Kosovo on Tuesday.
Kosovo and Serbia reached the Agreement on the Normalization of Relations and its Annex for its implementation at the beginning of last year but have failed to implement them, despite international pressure.
At the end of last year, Serbia, through a document, said it had no intention of implementing parts of the Agreement on the path to normalizing relations with Kosovo, worrying the European bloc, which said the agreement and the Ohrid annex are legally binding for the parties.
Last October, representatives of the EU, the USA, Germany, France, and Italy presented the parties with a draft statute for the formation of the Association, which Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Vučić accepted in principle.
However, after the statement by the EU Special Envoy for Dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák, that the issue of the statute is an internal matter of Kosovo, Kurti said that Kosovo too must be the author of that document.
O’Brien reiterated the US calls for the Central Bank of Kosovo not to implement a regulation that ends the use of the Serbian dinar for cash payments.
He called for coordination for the decision that the sole currency in Kosovo for cash payments should be the euro.
In Kosovo, in all Serb-majority settlements, the population uses the Serbian dinar for payments, and those working in Serbian institutions in Kosovo also receive salaries in dinars. Pensions are paid in dinars according to the Serbian system, as are child allowances and social benefits.
O’Brien also asked Kosovo to hold new elections in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country.
Kosovo has said it is open to holding elections in the north if the current Albanian mayors are dismissed through a petition by eligible voters.
Citizens in these municipalities have signed petitions this month for their dismissal. Now, if the Central Election Commission confirms that the collected signatures are appropriate and verifies them, a vote is organized for the dismissal of the mayor, which must be held within 45 days. For this vote to be successful, 50 percent plus one vote of eligible voters is required.
Albanian mayors were placed in their offices in four Serb-majority municipalities after contested and boycotted elections by local Serbs in April of last year, fueling increased tensions in that part of the country.
