Referendum in Kosovo

"Landep News"

Referendum in Kosovo

Serbs living in the northern part of the Kosovo province rejected the rule of the Albanians through a referendum which was criticized by both Serbia and the European Union. By the referendum, the Serbs living in Kosovo rejected by 99.7% the rule of the authorities in Pristina in their province.
Kosovo, which proclaimed itself an independent republic in February 2008, has a 90% population of Albanians, while the rest of the population in Kosovo is made of Serbs living in a northern enclave at the border with Serbia.
Since independence was proclaimed, Kosovo Serbs have constantly rejected the rule of Pristina over their territories and obstructed the EU and NATO missions.
The most important episode of this tense relation between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs occurred last summer, when the Kosovan prime minister Hashim Thaci decided that the police take charge of the two crossings into Serbia that were on the northern territory.
On that occasion, Thaci sent the Kosovo police to occupy the two crossings, and the Serbs imposed roadblocks. One Kosovo policeman was killed and another wounded by the Serbs before the government ordered them out of the region.
The prime minister drew a lot of criticism from the European leaders, but retorted that the Serbs in the north must pay taxes like everybody else. The scandal was brought about by the fact that Serbia refused to receive products that had the stamp “Made in Kosovo” on them.
The move triggered the response of the Kosovo authorities, which wanted to close the crossing through which the products from Serbia came to the Serbs in the north.
The situation was solved in the end by the peacekeepers, which late in the autumn last year took charge of the two crossings, after the NATO troops offered two deadlines, and the Serbs did not meet neither of them.
The Serbian president said that the referendum held this week in the northern part of Kosovo is hurting Serbia’s interests, since the country is preparing to be admitted to the European Union.
Serbia has closed its most painful and important chapter of the negotiations with the EU, that of the war criminals that were handed over to the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia.
After surrendering the last one of them last year to the Hague, it went on a fast track to negotiate admission with the EU, but a problem remains in debate: the ties with Kosovo.
European Union does not accept members which have unsolved territorial disputes with other states. From that perspective, Serbia is required to come to an agreement with Pristina, which does not mean recognizing the breakaway republic, but merely improving the relations with Kosovo.
Belgrade and Pristina were involved in many rounds of negotiations, but they all broke down without significant results.
Kosovo parliament has denounced the referendum in the northern territory in a resolution that says that the referendum produces “no legally and politically binding effect” and is therefore invalid.
120,000 Kosovo Serbs live in Kosovo, 40,000 of whom being massed in different enclaves in the north, close to the border with the Serbian republic.

Thank's for link:

Tweet