Skopje, 12 December 2022 (MIA) – Serbia’s objective is the situation in Kosovo to escalate, whereas Kosovo wants the opposite – de-escalation. What we’d want is the EU and the international community to be more vocal in condemning the publicly recognized organized appearances of the exponents in the north of Kosovo that act illegally, Kosovo’s Parliament Speaker Glauk Konjufca said Monday in Skopje.

“We won’t allow on the territory of Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to command through these gangs,” he told a news conference alongside his host, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi.

He recalled that Kosovo this past month had taken two steps “fully in line with the United States and the EU”, including the agreement on car number plates signed in Brussels and the move to postpone the elections in northern Kosovo.

On the other hand, Konjufca said, Serbia responded by supporting the exponents of organized crime in northern Kosovo, that have been taking steps not in line with our laws and setting up barricades, which close the road of our international friends.

According to him, these exponents must have been blacklisted by the United States and Great Britain. “We also want them to be blacklisted by the EU,” Konjufca stated.

“Now it’s Serbia’s turn to publicly distance itself from these people,” he urged.

Kosovo, the Speaker stressed, will do everything, but we won’t make a compromise and we won’t allow illegal processes and lawlessness in the north of Kosovo and we will do everything we’re supposed to do to secure peace and stability across Kosovo.

Konjufca said that EU officials in September had sent to the governments in Kosovo and Serbia a plan, i.e. the final chapter in the efforts to normalize the relations between the two countries.

“The essence of this plan is Kosovo’s recognition by Serbia. The recent moves made by Serbia I deem are motivated by the recent political processes, whose goal is to prevent the opening of this last chapter,” the Kosovo speaker concluded.

Speaker Xhaferi called on both sides to act rationally in a bid to de-escalate the situation.

“The UN-mandated integrity and territorial sovereignty of Kosovo has been granted to NATO. Since we are a full-fledged member of NATO, we expect the mandate to be fully conducted so as to secure the UN obligation,” he stated.