PRISTINA – “We call on all actors to urgently work together among all interested parties, including local communities, towards a solution that guarantees sustainable participatory representative democracy,” says a joint statement on Kosovo from the countries Quint (United States, France). , Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom).
They considered that following the boycott of a significant part of the Serbian community, the results of the local elections of April 23 did not provide a long-term political solution for these municipalities.
“There should be no action or initiative – including from newly elected mayors and municipal assemblies – that does not serve the population or that could exacerbate tensions. This includes the exercise of more than administrative powers and the process of taking office, as it is not mandatory for mayors to take the oath of office in municipal offices. All parties must refrain from the use of force or actions that could inflame tensions or promote conflict,” Quint said.
They concluded that these countries support the EU-facilitated dialogue to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia, including the need to urgently move towards the creation of the Association of Serbian Majority Municipalities (ASM).
On Friday, May 19, Erden Atiq took office as the new mayor of North Mitrovica. He obtained 550 votes in the extraordinary elections held in April. It is not yet clear when the elected Albanian party mayors in the three other Serbian-majority municipalities will take office.
Local Serbs do not recognize the new mayors, while leaders of the Serbian List (SL), which boycotted the elections, say that “Serbs will never allow northern municipalities to be run by those who have one or two percent of the votes. “.
The fear of an escalation of tensions in the north is explained by the fact that newly elected mayors have difficulty accessing municipal buildings. The US ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, said force should not be used to access buildings in northern municipalities. He stressed that it is important to avoid conflicts or tensions on the ground.
“We expect the elected president of the northern communes to play an administrative role rather than a political one,” Hovenier concluded.
