Status: 08/18/2022 06:41
In Brussels, Serbia’s President Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Kurti want to try to reach an agreement in the dispute over the border regime. Dealing with signs and papers heats up – and puts a strain on cross-border commuters.
By Anne Tillack, ARD Studio Vienna
Things are more hectic than usual at the Jarinje border in northern Kosovo. Kosovo police special units with machine guns protect the streets. Nenad Radosavljevic drives through the border post in his car. You can see the number of special units increasing every day, he says, describing the situation as “difficult and tense”.
Radosavljevic masked his Passat’s Serbian plates as he entered Kosovo. The Kosovo government was due to issue a mandatory regulation on August 1, according to which vehicles with Serbian plates must be re-registered. In addition, Serbian identity documents must be supplemented with an additional document at border crossings when entering Kosovo.
Pristina officials justified their actions by saying that Serbian authorities would carry out an identical procedure when Kosovar citizens crossed the border. Prime Minister Albin Kurti spoke of a “measure of reciprocity”.
Voltage in Mitrovica
But just before the new regulation took effect, unrest erupted in Kosovo. Roads were blocked off with construction machinery, shots were fired and sirens could be heard in the truly divided town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo.
Due to international pressure, Kurti had to delay the planned regulation by a month. It was “sheer madness”, says Radosavljevic, and criticizes Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic: “Unfortunately, we have a populist in Kosovo with strong authoritarian traits. On the other side is a politician who has taken a step forward and has now become a dictator consummated.” Both, says Radosavljevic, are incapable of solving problems – “they displace them or create new ones.”
It ended up on the Mitrovica bridge: cars with Serbian license plates can’t continue here. Image: ARD Vienna
Dispute caused by politics?
Radosavljevic is a Serb from Kosovo who lives in Leposavic, one of four Serb communities in northern Kosovo. Serbs make up only about five percent of Kosovo’s population and live predominantly in the north. 90 percent of the population are Kosovar Albanians – like Melihate Beshiri. She has a small shop in Mitrovica and sells lemonade and ice cream – of course also for Serbs, as she is quick to point out.
People don’t have problems with each other, they get along well. It is politics that is jeopardizing the coexistence with this recognition dispute.
Beshiri remembers being startled by the sudden blast of sirens on the afternoon of July 31st. It took her back to 1999, the last year of the Kosovo war: “It was a very bad feeling, because we know that alarms are not raised in silent situations. It reminded me of the time when we had to flee.”
Peace between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians has been fragile since the end of the Kosovo war, and Serbia has not recognized Kosovo’s independence to this day. In the Serbian constitution, Kosovo remains part of Serbia.
Traveling with two cars to avoid plate dispute problems: Nenad Radosavljevic Image: ARD Vienna
Bridge change
The people of Kosovo are used to special circumstances. Radosavljevic can only drive his Serbian car to the bridge in Mitrovica city center. The southern part of the city is Albanian – Radosavljevic uses his second Kosovan car to drive there.
In the stalemate dispute over the plates, he doesn’t believe the Kosovo prime minister can back down. In today’s Brussels talks, Kurti could therefore persuade Vucic that Kosovo Serbs have To their cars, but in return he could accommodate Vucic in founding the so-called “Community of Serb Communities” in Kosovo – a plan long cherished by the Serbs would grant significant rights of self-government to Serb communities in Kosovo.
In Vucic’s view, the Kosovo government can only appear so self-confident because it has NATO support. Ahead of the Brussels meeting, Vucic said Albanians could “do whatever they wanted” with NATO, but added that he would not allow a pogrom against the Serbian people. “We will do anything to keep the peace – at almost any price.”
New Serbia: Kosovo crisis meeting in Brussels
Stephan Ueberbach, ARD Brussels, 17.8.2022 22:01