April 22, 2024
Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, Special Representative Ziadeh, for your briefing. We also welcome President Vucic and President Osmani to today’s briefing.
Madam President. The United States shares the aspiration of all countries in the Western Balkans, including Kosovo and Serbia, to build greater regional economic integration, foster regional stability, democracy and multi-ethnic societies, and to enshrine the rule-of-law. We will continue to work closely with our partners in the region, European partners through the EU-facilitated dialogue, NATO, OSCE, and others.
When we look at the history of the region in recent years, we see enormous progress. But we also continue to see, far too often, uncoordinated or escalatory actions on the part of both Serbia and Kosovo that delays progress.
It has now been seven months since the Serb paramilitary attack on the Kosovo Police near the Banjska Monastery in northern Kosovo. Serbia has made no meaningful progress in holding accountable those involved, including the self-proclaimed leader of the attack, Milan Radoicic. We urge full accountability in accordance with the rule of law. It is critical that Serbia work with KFOR to prevent another attack like the one on September 24 from happening again.
We were also deeply concerned by the interruption of freedom of movement for Kosovan citizens transiting Serbia on April 17, along with the detention of Kosovan citizens, including ethnic Serbs serving in the Kosovo Police. This action was a violation of past agreements on freedom of movement and a form of intimidation of Kosovan Serbs participating in Kosovo civic life.
We also remain concerned over recent uncoordinated actions taken by the Government of Kosovo, including its enforcement of the Central Bank of Kosovo’s amended Regulation on Cash Operations, which are inconsistent with Kosovo’s commitment to work through the EU-facilitated Dialogue. These actions affect the welfare of vulnerable and non-majority communities and undermine the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia.
We urge both parties to take concrete steps forward through the EU-facilitated Dialogue on all their commitments, including finding a solution to the currency issue, and progress towards the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities. The Dialogue is the agreed and only path for normalization between Serbia and Kosovo and progress towards membership in European institutions.
Madam President. Consistent with its legal requirements, Kosovo held a mayoral recall vote yesterday in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo. We understand from the Central Election Commission that there was extremely low voter turnout.
We regret that certain political actors did not make full use of the democratic tools available to them under Kosovan law to advance effective and representative democracy.
We appreciate the efforts made by Kosovan election officials to allow all Kosovan citizens registered in the four municipalities to participate in this democratic process.
We note there is no decision by the voters to recall the elected mayors and that they remain in place under Kosovo’s legal framework.
Madam President. We note once again that UNMIK has long outlived its original mandate and repeat our call for the Council to review its operations and sunset the mission.
Thank you, Madam President.