MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) – Serbia’s Ana Brnabic expressed willingness to compromise on Monday during her first visit to Kosovo since becoming prime minister almost five years ago, a day after Germany and France appealed to Serbia and Kosovo to resolve a flare-up in tension.
Unrest among Serbs in northern Kosovo over demands for them to use Kosovo documents has raised fears of conflict between the two countries, more than two decades after NATO bombed Serbia to end repression of Kosovo’s Albanian majority.
Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence and around 3,700 NATO peacekeepers still patrol to prevent violence between the Albanian and Serb communities.
Dozens of U.S. NATO troops stepped up patrols in northern Kosovo at the start of the month to preserve calm after the government in Pristina set a two-month deadline to Serbs in the area, which borders Serbia, to switch to Kosovo licence plates.
Earlier attempts to introduce Kosovo licence plates in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo led to clashes between police and local Serbs, who erected roadblocks. The barricades were only dismantled when NATO peacekeepers stepped in to oversee the process and Kosovo agreed to postpone the licensing demand.
During her first visit to Kosovo since she took over as prime minister in 2017, Brnabic said: “Compromise in the interest of peace and stability – definitely yes.”
In another show of willingness to mend relations, Kosovo ministers visited areas in southern Serbia where Albanians are in the majority.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, wrote to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Sunday saying normal ties between Kosovo and Serbia are “of crucial importance” to the region.
“Recent tensions have shown that constructive steps forward are urgently needed, both on the practical and the political level,” Scholz and Macron wrote in the letter, which was published by both Vucic’s and Kurti’s offices.
Talks between Kosovo and Serbia under the auspices of the European Union and U.S. envoys have so far failed to solve the licence plates issue, although Belgrade and Pristina reached a deal on the use of personal identity documents.
Serbs account for 5% of the 1.8 million people in Kosovo and Serbia accuses Kosovo of trampling on their rights, a charge denied by Pristina.
Kosovo is recognised by some 100 countries including the United States and all but five EU members, but not by a number of other states, notably Russia and China.
(Reporting by Fedja Grulovic and Fatos Bytyci; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
