The US envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, while reporting to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in the United States, stated that there has been unacceptable violence in the north of Kosovo.

Gabriel Escobar emphasized that both Kosovo and Serbia must fulfill the obligations arising from the agreements.

According to Escobar, he stated that Kosovo’s obligation was the formation of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority.

“Kosovo and Serbia have also agreed to recognize each other’s national documents and symbols. But most importantly, Serbia will not lobby against the integration of Kosovo.

Since then, there have been unacceptable tensions and violence against KFOR and journalists in the north of Kosovo.

We and the European Union have called for an immediate extension and refocusing on the implementation of the tasks received from the agreement and for new municipal elections to be held with the participation of Serbs in the north”, Escobari emphasized.

The US envoy also explained that he received assurances that Serbia will not oppose the upcoming elections in northern Kosovo and that Serbia will face consequences if it does otherwise.

“We have been harsh towards Serbia in terms of the conditions they require for participating in the elections. We have taken the commitment that they will participate in the elections and there are consequences if this is not implemented”, he said.

Speaking about the region, Escobar said that the obstacles are quite big, the halted progress in democratization, corruption, energy dependence on Russia, ethno-nationalist policies, harmful disinformation are just some of the challenges, but which, according to him, are not insurmountable .

/k.s/