US and Brussels against police incursions into municipalities in the north: Who are the western partners that Kurti says support him?

The countries of the Quint have condemned the decision of the Kosovo authorities to provide the new mayors in the north of Kosovo access to municipal buildings by force, America separately says that Pristina will bear the consequences because it did not listen to their advice and already canceled Kosovo's participation in the military exercise "Defender Europe 2023", but Albin Kurti continues to say that he works closely with the EU and the US. Who are the Western partners that Kurti says support him?

According to the opinion of the interlocutors of Kosovo Online, it is obvious that Kurti has the support of factors that think that now is the opportunity to end all ties between the north of Kosovo and the institutions of Serbia, that is, to confirm "Kosovo's statehood".

Assistant professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Stefan Surlic, tells Kosovo Online that it is certain that Kurti has support for the moves he is making in the north of Kosovo and that it is based on the assumption that right now is the ideal opportunity to end all ties between the north of Kosovo and the institutions of Serbia. The fact that there are different views of international actors on the current situation, as indicated by Surlic, gives Pristina additional room for maneuver to implement what is envisioned.

"It is not possible to say with certainty who is behind Kurti, but it is certain that he has support for the moves he is making in the north of Kosovo. That support is based on the assumption that right now is the ideal opportunity to end all ties between the north of Kosovo and the institutions of Serbia. On the other hand , Belgrade is aware that any intervention would be met with a harsh reaction from the international community, that Serbia would be presented as an aggressor and that the Serbs in the north would be even more left to the arbitrariness of the authorities in Pristina," Surlic says for Kosovo Online.

Based on earlier statements by Kurti and his followers, as indicated by our interlocutor, the situation in the north was presented as a battle between whether Kosovo would be like Croatia in the future, which "permanently resolved the Serbian issue" or whether it would be like Bosnia, "unstable and dysfunctional the system".

"On the basis of this, it can be concluded that with these moves, Kurti definitely abandons the implementation of the CSM and seeks to completely marginalize the Serbian community in Kosovo step by step. The different views of international actors on the current situation give Pristina additional room for maneuver to implement what it envisions. Until the change can only come with the decisive involvement of the US, which will be accompanied by serious sanctions against Kurti's government," Surlic believes.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said yesterday that Prime Minister Kurti and his government should ensure that elected mayors perform their interim duties from alternative locations outside municipal buildings and withdraw the police force. Although under strong pressure from Washington, it is obvious that the ruling Self-Determination Movement does not want to admit this publicly, and even at this moment it talks about dialogue with "partners and allies", while the President of the Assembly of Kosovo Glauk Konjufca presents the current situation as follows, "The US probably does not understand the positions Kosovo as it should be".

At the same time, it is clear that Kurti's "stopping" and canceling the decisions he made would be an additional trump card in the hands of the opposition, which is already proposing a vote of no confidence in the Government.

Retired diplomat Zoran Milivojevic says that it is absolutely certain that the measures and actions of Kurti and the authorities trying to confirm Kosovo's statehood do not suit the administration in Washington because it has no intention of excluding the Serbs from that process.

"The Americans want at any cost to return the Serbs to the dialogue and seek a solution in which the Serbs would participate, but in line with their key interest - to confirm Kosovo's statehood. Secretary of State Blinken also got involved, which is unusual, but it clearly shows that the Americans want two things - to make it known that they are the main arbiter and the key factor in the outcome and the process that should lead to a solution, which is a message to Kurti, to us, but also to our Western partners. If Kurti were to consider such an outcome, he would question his political position and strategy, and the way he behaves leads to the conclusion that he has support in some power centers in Europe. The Germans have unreservedly supported not only Kurti, but also his policies from day one and do not question them. In principle, they challenge and criticize the attack on KFOR, but they do not question the measures and actions of Kurti, which means that they are behind that policy," Milivojevic says.

Dodaje da je nesporno, odnosno da je potpuno jasno da je tu prisutan i britanski uticaj.

"Jasno je da je London u koaliciji sa Berlinom kada je reč o podršci Kurtiju u njegovim merama i akcijama", precizira.

Milivojević navodi da se sada otvara pitanje da li će Amerikanci ići do kraja i to ne samo u disciplinovanju Kurtija kada je reč o njegovim merama i akcijama, već i kako će potvrditi svoj kredibilitet s obzirom da su sami otvorili to pitanje. Otvara se, kaže, i pitanje američkog autoriteta u odnosu na prištinske vlasti, ali i pitanje njihovog autoriteta u odnosu sa partnerima - Nemcima i Englezima.