Kosovo Talks Stuck After Shooting as EU Struggles to Mend Ties

Slav Okov and Gresa Kraja
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- A deadly shooting last month marking the worst violence between in Kosovo with Serb militants in almost two decades cast a shadow over European Union efforts to restore engagement, as Kosovo’s premier said there could be no business as usual.

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“The dialog cannot continue as if nothing has happened,” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said Monday in Tirana, where European leaders met with Western Balkan counterparts in a bid to boost the region’s ties with the 27-member bloc.

Future talks “should take into account the aggressive action of Serbia through the Sept. 24 terrorist attack,” Kurti said.

The comments came at the start of talks in the Albanian capital as leaders met to boost economic cooperation with a region that’s been beset by setbacks after wars in the 1990s and frustrations over the slow pace of EU accession. Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo all have ambitions to join the bloc.

Leaders will also discuss the Serbia-Kosovo situation, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told reporters. The worst violence in the region in nearly twenty years erupted last month when shooting between a group of armed Serbs and Kosovar police killed an officer and three assailants.

The leaders of the two countries traded barbs over the escalation, while the US and EU demanded an immediate end of hostilities amid concerns of heightened conflict in Europe at a time when Ukraine is fending off the Russian invasion. The Israel-Hamas war this month adds to global instability.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after a war over the territory, but Serbia refuses to accept the secession. Both will have to mend ties to advance their EU accession path, but their biggest current dispute is the fate of ethnic Serbs living in Albanian-majority Kosovo.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who vowed last week to return to negotiations, didn’t attend Monday’s meeting, instead delegating attendance to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

“Both governments will have to de-escalate,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Tirana. “It is time to overcome conflicts that have continued for far too long and only hold the countries back.”

--With assistance from Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Misha Savic and Arne Delfs.

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