“Armed conflict is possible”, German media show about destructive role of Serbia in the north of Kosovo

German media point to the destructive role of Serbia in northern Kosovo, recognizing the behavior of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić as a “systematic instigator of the conflict” and having “continuity with the wars of the 1990s.” At the same time, these media warn of Russia’s role.

The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung published a commentary by journalist Florian Hassel on the situation in northern Kosovo entitled “Serbia is playing a destructive role.”

Hassel starts by recalling that Vučić ordered to raise the combat readiness of the Serbian army to the highest level, but in his opinion this should not impress anyone.

The commentary also recalls the signing of the Brussels Agreement, which the author claims was supposed to be a historic agreement, but turned out to be a “historic mistake” that is also

“Instead of forcing Serbia to recognize Kosovo’s independence in exchange for European Union membership, the latter and the German government supported a rotten compromise. Belgrade did not have to recognize Kosovo, and Vučić can avoid dealing with the violent history of the former Yugoslavia. He can manipulate Kosovo Serbs for his own purposes, and to this day plays the card of persecuted Serbs in Kosovo,” Hassel writes.

“The fact that Vucic has raised the army’s readiness to the highest level should not impress anyone – it is nothing more than a populist maneuver for the domestic audience. It supports Vucic mainly because the state and pro-government media have been flooded with anti-American, anti-European and pro-Russian propaganda for years,” he adds.

“Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti refuses to implement the Association of Serb Municipalities signed in the 2013 Brussels Agreement – and it is good that he is doing so. Because of the destructive role Belgrade has played for years in governing the Serbs living in Kosovo, Kosovo Albanians rightly fear the impossibility of governing their country – just as Bosnia and Herzegovina is already paralyzed. There, too, Moscow and Republika Srpska are boycotting the functioning of a common state that would bring them closer to democratic countries and the European Union. In the case of Russia, European policy has been delayed but redirected. In the case of the policy towards Kosovo and Serbia, unfortunately, this is not evident so far,” he concludes.

Extremely dangerous situation

The German public broadcaster ARD also offers a detailed report on the conflict between Belgrade and Pristina. It explains in detail the prehistory of the escalation – from license plates to barricades and shootings to the reaction of Kosovo and Serbia.

“The European Union has presented the governments of Serbia and Kosovo with a ‘Franco-German proposal’ to normalize relations. This proposes that Serbia should not be forced to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Serbia, however, must accept that Kosovo exercises power in its territory to some extent autonomously. But these attempts at rapprochement seem to have been pushed into the distant future by the numerous incidents of recent weeks,” stresses author Oliver Zoss.

A commentary by journalist Reinhard Weser in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung entitled “Extremely dangerous situation” emphasizes that the Serbian president is systematically fueling the conflict.

“Even before the Serbian army was put on full combat readiness, the situation in Kosovo was extremely dangerous. In the predominantly Serb-populated north of Kosovo, tensions have been rising for weeks to such an extent that an armed conflict between Albanians and Serbs seems possible. It is obvious that the Serbian president is systematically fueling the conflict, where a situation has been created that can easily get out of control,” Weser’s article emphasizes.

The author also claims that Russia can benefit from this conflict.

“The conflagration in an area completely surrounded by the territory of the European Union and NATO would pose significant problems for the West. The conflict in northern Kosovo is undoubtedly driven by local dynamics, but it is not unreasonable to assume that Moscow is somewhat fueling this fire. The West must now do all it can to calm the situation. The Kremlin has leverage. After all, Serbia is much more economically intertwined with the European Union than with Russia,” the author asserts.

Continuity with the war times of the 1990s

Germany’s Bild newspaper spoke with Konrad Kleving, a Balkans expert at the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, who says there is reason to fear a possible escalation in northern Kosovo.

“For me, unfortunately, there is a reason to fear a possible escalation in northern Kosovo. Critics of the authorities in Belgrade may see this as an attempt to divert attention in view of the economic crisis in the country, but the declaration of full combat readiness is still dangerous,” the expert told Bild.

At the same time, Kleving points out an interesting aspect of the increase in combat readiness.

“At an important point, it finally becomes apparent that Serbian institutions are structurally and ideologically in deep continuity with the 1990s, as full combat readiness applies to the army, police, gendarmerie and secret service. They were all placed under the command of the Army General Staff last night by decision of the Minister of Interior,” Kleving concluded. /Deutsche Welle/