For the European Union, no health and educational institutions, nor other structures supported by Serbia that provide basic social services, should be closed. The bloc expressed readiness for the new facilitator of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Peter Sorensen, to organize meetings with the parties in Brussels on these issues. The Kosovo Government did not indicate whether they agree to discuss this topic.
The European Union (EU) has expressed its readiness to facilitate negotiations aimed at addressing the issue of parallel Serbian structures in Kosovo. The bloc opposed the authorities’ recent action to close offices in the north that provided social services, calling it a unilateral action.
“The closure of existing structures that provide basic social services to Kosovo Serbs and other communities, without any alternative arrangements agreed in advance, negatively affects the daily lives and living conditions of these communities and directly undermines efforts for normalization. These issues need to be addressed between the parties. The Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue (EUSR), Sørensen, stands ready to facilitate discussions,” an EU spokesperson told KOMO.
He stressed that official Brussels is awaiting details to confirm the facts regarding last Friday’s action.
“We have noted that the Kosovo Police have conducted new operations against Serbian-supported structures in northern Kosovo. Our EULEX mission is monitoring the situation on the ground, in accordance with its mandate. We await further details to confirm the facts. As previously stated, the status of these Serbian-supported structures and services is intended to be resolved through EU-facilitated dialogue. No Serbian-supported health and education institutions, nor other Serbian-supported structures providing basic social services, should be closed,” the spokesperson said.
While Brussels refers to them as structures supported by Serbia, for the Kosovo government they are run by the northern neighbor and are illegal.
Actions to close them began a few months ago and so far, post offices, bank branches, and parallel municipalities in the north and south have been closed.
On Friday of last week, by order of the Basic Court in Mitrovica, police raided and closed the offices of three social work centers that were operating illegally in the north.
According to the police, officials from these centers are suspected of having called citizens and, under the guise of threats, forced or instructed them on how to vote by making social assistance conditional on their vote in favor of a political party that was running in the parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
Regarding the police action of February 21, the Serbian List has reacted. According to this entity, Prime Minister Kurti “is using the last few days to once again attack everything Serbian.”
And, the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, has said that the employees of these centers will not be left without salaries, just as no social assistance beneficiary will be left without the benefits paid to them by the Serbian state.
Members of the Serbian community in Kosovo receive various incomes from the Serbian budget, such as salaries, pensions, social assistance, child and parental allowances, and the like.
Kosovo authorities have closed most of the institutions operating within the Serbian system over the past year, arguing that their work is illegal, but official Belgrade has continued to pay them salaries.
In addition to the EU, the United States and Germany have also declared against the closure of these offices.
Germany, through its embassy in Pristina, expressed its position the day before that this country is in favor of closing these structures, but not in the way it is acting with institutions that provide basic services, such as social offices, but also the health and education system.
The Kosovo Government did not indicate whether they would accept these issues being discussed in the Brussels dialogue.
Internationals have also opposed many of the government’s actions, which have shut down illegal Serbian structures. They have opposed everything from the decision to ban the circulation of vehicles with illegal license plates to the ban on the Serbian dinar.
