Chollet: Kosovo's latest decision on KM license plates could lead to a crisis

The decision of the Kosovo authorities not to allow the entry of the cars with KM license plates, whose registration had been extended since December last year, could lead to a crisis, warned the special adviser of the State Department, Derek Chollet, and pointed out that the latest decision of Kosovo was not in accordance with the agreement reached in Brussels.

Chollet told Radio Free Europe that the US did not want to see exactly those actions, which, he added, he had made clear during his visit to the region, Reporteri reports.

"Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of step we did not want to see. When I was in the region last week, I made it very clear that the US, working with its European partners, wanted to end crisis diplomacy, and wanted to make progress in dialogue, led and mediated by the EU, towards normalization based on mutual recognition," Chollet said.

This action, he emphasized, was not in accordance with the November agreement that had been reached in Brussels.

"I think that the steps in the last 24 hours, which Pristina announced, are not in accordance with either the letter or the spirit of the agreements reached at the end of November, which avoided the previous crisis. We believe that no side should take unilateral steps. We need to have a coordinated way forward so that these things don't cause crises that we really need to avoid," Chollet added.

He emphasized that the action of the Kosovo authorities could complicate the process and lead to a new crisis.

When asked what he expected from tomorrow's visit of representatives of the international community to Kosovo and Serbia, and whether they brought any solutions to bring the two sides back to the table, Chollet said that it was important that the visits took place and that the parties talked.

"This visit is a continuation of the previous ones, from the end of last year. It is a very important moment. The reason why the US is joining this visit is because of the importance we give to this process and our support for this process. We do not expect this situation to be resolved during the meetings tomorrow. But it is an important milestone. We look forward to this process – we hope to see real progress in the coming weeks,” Chollet said.

Regarding the statement of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, who recently said that Serbia would never recognize Kosovo, neither officially nor unofficially, nor would it accept membership in the United Nations, and when asked in which direction the negotiation process was going with such an approach of Serbia, Chollet did not want to speak publicly on the negotiations, and added that he believed there was hope that compromises could be made on both sides.

"That will be difficult. It will take courage. We think that leaders should be like that, we test them and we are clear with them about the potential opportunities that may arise when we have this kind of arrangement," Chollet added.