BRUSSELS – The EU Spokesperson, Peter Stano, has emphasized the importance of conducting local and comprehensive elections in the four northern municipalities as soon as possible, KoSSev reported.
“Regarding the elections, even though partial elections for mayors were held in April in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, conducted in accordance with Kosovo’s legal framework, we have been very clear that due to the very low participation, they have not offered a long-term political solution. Therefore, it is important that comprehensive local elections, in which Kosovo Serbs participate without preconditions, should be organized as soon as possible,” Stano said.
EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajčak, wrote on Facebook that all reached agreements must be fully implemented.
“All agreements reached within the dialogue remain valid and binding for both parties and need to be fully implemented without any conditions or delays. Our discussions will continue, and we are getting ready for the leaders’ meeting in Brussels on 14 September for another round of talks at the highest level,” Lajčak said.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti promised in front of regional leaders and EU officials at the Bled Security Forum that new local elections would be held in the autumn in the four municipalities.
As Kosovo Online reported, a working group was even organized to draft administrative instructions for the petition for the removal of the mayors, which has not been abandoned, even though this document has been a target of fierce criticism for days by both Serbian and Albanian legal experts and representatives of civil society in Kosovo. They evaluate the instruction as illegal and unenforceable and call for the resignation of the mayors.
However, as things stand now, they are too small for that, at least when it comes to the mayors from the ranks of Kurti’s “Self-Determination” – Erden Atiq in North Mitrovica and Lulzim Hetemi in Leposavic. Moreover, Atiq said that he “does not see resigning from that position as an option, even if the petition for the removal of mayors in four municipalities in the north fails.”