Serbian President Alexandar Vučić responded in an interview with POLITICO after Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused him of ‘irrationality’, ‘desperation’ and leading an ‘aggressive campaign for new conflicts’.
“If irrationality and aggression are going to lead to democratic elections… OK, thank you very much,” Vučić said.
The new war of words follows the Serbian leader’s call this week for new local elections in northern Kosovo to defuse tensions that flared in 2023 when the Serb community largely boycotted the vote.
Ethnic Serbs boycotted the local elections to express their discontent with Pristina. Tensions rose when ethnic Albanian candidates, representing just over 3 per cent of the electorate, won the elections.
The crisis erupted when Kurti encouraged the winners to take office and sent special police units to protect them.
One policeman and three Serbs were killed in armed clashes in the north of the country last September after the conflict broke out. Dozens of NATO troops were also injured in protests as they tried to keep the two sides apart.
The Kosovo government has confiscated hundreds of weapons, including machine guns, mortars and anti-tank grenades, found during police raids in troubled areas.
EU mediation fails
Despite repeated attempts to defuse the conflict, the European Union has failed. This week, EU negotiators tried to bring the parties together for a trilateral meeting in Brussels, attended by the bloc’s special envoy to the conflict, former Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Lajčák, but the parties refused.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen invited Balkan leaders to a working dinner in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the EU’s growth agenda and the region’s integration into the European single market. Kurti and Vučić attended the dinner but did not speak.
We have no relationship,” Vučić told POLITICO before the trip.
Kurti closes local Serb institutions with police force
Vučić insisted he was not interested in stoking tensions. I don’t want to be part of an anti-Kurti campaign or a smear campaign against anyone,’ the Serbian leader said, adding that the Kosovo leadership ‘seems to be obsessed with him’.
Serbia continues to provide financial support to Serbs living in Kosovo, particularly in the areas of health and education.
Over the past month, the Kurti government has sent police forces to close down and take over buildings housing local Serb institutions in towns such as North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok and Leposavic, which have a majority Serb population of about 80,000.
Belgrade accused of ‘ethnic cleansing’
Pristina’s latest moves have sparked protests and accusations that the Kosovo government is determined to ‘ethnically cleanse’ Serbs from areas where they are the majority.
Kurti has repeatedly insisted that he is applying Kosovo’s constitution, which gives him authority over the entire territory.
Serbia insists that Kosovo abide by existing agreements, including a commitment in the April 2013 Brussels Agreement to establish the Union of Serb Municipalities, a political body representing Kosovo’s Serb minority.
In response, the Kosovo government demanded the reopening of the Ibar River bridge, which leads to the Serb-majority north of the country and is guarded by NATO.
Vučić: EU and US agree with us
Both sides will meet separately with NATO officials during their visit to Brussels.
Vučić claims that Kosovo is blocking progress in the talks.
“Even if people in Brussels see which side is blocking progress, they would never say so publicly,” he told POLITICO. The EU and the Americans agree with us,” he told POLITICO.
