The European Union said today that it expects the government of Kosovo to reconsider and address the issue of closing the branches of the Post of Serbia in the north of Kosovo within the dialogue in Brussels.
The authorities in Kosovo said meanwhile that parallel structures and illegal activities have no place in Kosovo and according to them this should be strongly supported by international partners.
On Monday, the Kosovo police closed nine branches of the Post of Serbia, which were operating without a license in the north of Kosovo, in an operation that provoked the reaction of Belgrade and Western diplomacy.
The Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications, this institution which is responsible for the regulation and supervision of the provision of postal services in Kosovo, said that the postal facilities of Serbia were operating illegally, unregistered and without the license of the relevant institutions.
The spokesperson of the European Union, Peter Stano, said today that the actions of the authorities in Pristina were unilateral, uncoordinated and harm the future of Kosovo.
“The fact that the European Union imposed measures against Kosovo last year is a reflection of the steps that led to the escalation. Now we see more unilateral steps, more uncoordinated actions. This is not really an extension, it leads to further escalation and I think this should be understood very clearly by those who make these decisions in Pristina”, tha zoti Stano
He said that Serbia and Kosovo have reached an agreement in 2013 on telecommunications and it has been said that postal services will be discussed at a later date.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi said on Tuesday that the actions taken by the police are in the service of protecting the rule of law, competitiveness and constitutionality in the country.
“Parallel structures and illegal activity have no place in the Republic of Kosovo. This should be strongly supported by our international partners and allies”. Mr. Bislimi wrote on social networks
Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi wrote that the fact that the issue of postal services has been considered as a discussion for the future in the past agreements of 2013 and 2015, this does not mean that the Post of Serbia continues illegal work in the country.
“Nothing implies rights, or tolerance of illegal entities in the country. This cannot be acceptable and permissible for our country, and in principle it should not be acceptable even from the side of the European Union”, he wrote criticizing, as he said, the readiness of the European Union to condemn Kosovo and contributing negatively in moving forward towards the final agreement.
The United States expressed “deep disappointment” with what they called “unilateral and uncoordinated actions of the government of Kosovo”, for closing the branches of the Serbian Post in the north of Kosovo. Through a communique, the American embassy in Pristina said that “uncoordinated actions put the citizens of Kosovo and KFOR soldiers at greater risk, unnecessarily escalate regional tensions and damage Kosovo's name as a reliable international partner.” .
The actions of the previous day were also condemned by other ambassadors of European countries in Kosovo.
The operation provoked harsh reactions from the authorities in Serbia and the political representatives of the Serbs in Kosovo. According to them, “with the recent actions in the north of Kosovo, the government of Albin Kurti is aiming to provoke a conflict”.
