Markovic: The decision on the urgent meeting was late

Political scientist Igor Markovic assessed for Kosovo Online that the decision of representatives of the international community on the urgent meeting to which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Albanian Prime Minister Albin Kurti had been invited, had been late.

"The arrest of three Kosovo policemen raised tensions considerably and I deeply believe that after this incident the meeting between Kurti and Vucic will not be possible," Markovic said.

Commenting on NATO's request to establish the evidence for which the Kosovo policemen were arrested, Markovic says that "the request is reasonable" if one takes into account the circumstances of high tension.

"Representatives of the international community have on several occasions separately and jointly proposed many steps that should be taken to start the de-escalation process - the return of the Serbs to the institutions, the withdrawal of the Police from the north, and the organization of elections. If the international community believes that tensions should be calmed, we should go back to those three starting points in order to return to normality," Markovic says.

He adds that the situation has not completely gotten out of control yet.

"There is no conflict between citizens and the police or between citizens and KFOR. The situation in the north is relatively calm for now, and if we take into account the fact that things that happened in the past weeks hinted at rising tensions and the possibility of conflict. It seems to me that the situation can be under control, but that depends on the international community, whether they will put enough pressure on Kurti, first of all, to withdraw the special units, which I consider the main prerequisite for calming tensions," Markovic says.

He adds that the moves Kurti made, from the license plates to everything else, that led to the current situation, say that it is difficult to foresee Kurti's future steps.

"I'm afraid that he won't decide to withdraw the special units from the north so quickly, first because he fears that he will lose the trust not only of the citizens but also of his political comrades. On the other hand, I'm afraid that he didn't take the pressure of the international community seriously because of the tensions. Kurti and Svecla announced that the Special Forces would not withdraw until the so-called criminals, as they called them, were arrested. They have illegally published a list of people from the north who will be arrested. And until all of them, as Kurti announced, "are brought to justice ', I believe that the situation will not calm down," Markovic says.