PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo on Monday accused neighboring Serbia of trying to destabilize the country by pressuring members of the ethnic Serb community to resign from their posts for not accepting Pristina’s decision to change illegal vehicle license plates.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti said Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, has been in close coordination with Russia and China and is trying to “sabotage” the European Union-mediated dialogue.
Ten Serb parliamentarians, 10 prosecutors and 576 police officers in the northern Mitrovica region handed in their resignations following their political leaders’ decision on Saturday.
The government’s decision to gradually ban Serbia-issued license plates has angered Kosovo Serbs, most of whom don’t recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Members of the ethnic Serb minority left their government jobs on Saturday in a protest over the directive.
“Serbia is obviously interested in sabotaging dialogue and any agreement,” Kurti said.
In the first three weeks in November, about 6,300 ethnic Serbs owning cars with illegal number plates will be warned, according to Kurti. For the next two months they will be fined, and for three more months, until April 21, they will drive only with temporary local plates.
The Serbian government, with support from China and Russia, has refused to acknowledge Kosovo’s statehood. The United States and its allies recognize Kosovo as an independent country.
Serbia’s foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, said Sunday the country’s leadership has rejected the latest proposal offering Serbia a faster track to EU membership in exchange for Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations.
Dacic told pro-government broadcaster Prva that the proposal submitted by France and Germany “starts from the position that the independence of Kosovo is already a foregone conclusion.”
“Serbia can’t accept that,” he said.
Trouble brewed this summer over Serbia’s and Kosovo’s refusal to recognize each other’s identity documents and vehicle license plates. Kosovo Serbs in the north put up roadblocks, sounded air raid sirens and fired guns into the air.
In August, EU and U.S. envoys negotiated a solution to the travel documents problem, allowing the situation to calm down.
