Serbian associations blocked the border with Kosovo on Friday evening in protest against the closure of parallel institutions by Kosovar authorities in the north of the country.
The border point at Jarinjë was reopened on Saturday morning, and in the evening, Merdarja and Bërnjak were also reopened. According to the protest organizers, they will wait until October 1 for their demands to be met by Kosovar authorities. They have warned of a new border blockade if their demands are not fulfilled.
The Serbian associations are demanding that Kosovar institutions withdraw the Kosovo Police from municipalities with a Serbian majority in the north of the country, allow the use of the Serbian dinar as currency, and permit the functioning of Serbian parallel municipalities.
All these developments on Friday and Saturday passed without any reaction from the international community.
Former Dutch Ambassador to Kosovo, Robert Bosch, attributes the lack of reaction to the exhaustion of allies. According to him, little progress has been seen in the dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia.
“I fear that the lack of reaction is due to the exhaustion of the international community.
The conflict is dragging on and little progress has been made. The role of the international community is ambivalent, to put it mildly,” the diplomat said. He criticized the international community for not putting enough pressure on Belgrade regarding the parallel structures in the north of Kosovo.
“Why criticize Pristina when they are closing the parallel structures permanently? Municipalities run by the Serbian List also became parallel structures as they openly claimed that Belgrade was their capital. Therefore, there should have been more pressure on Belgrade here as well,” Bosch emphasized to “Bota sot.”
He predicts that the international silence will increase in the future.
“Now, after the lithium agreement with Germany and the arms deal with France, the silence might increase,” added the former ambassador.
Following the border blockade, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbia of trying to create tensions and escalate the situation in Kosovo and the region “through criminal gangs linked to the state.” Serbia again shows that it is not interested in free movement or good neighborly relations. These recent blockades are specifically aimed at terrorizing Albanian citizens and exploiting these border points,” Osmani declared.
