Vucic Calls for Local Vote in Serb-Populated North of Kosovo
- Western allies have criticized Kosovo premier’s measures
- Ethnic Serbs, Kosovo leaders at odds in long-running EU talks
Aleksandar Vucic
Photographer: Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty ImagesSerbian President Aleksandar Vucic urged Kosovo to hold local elections in its Serb-populated north as a way to defuse ethnic tension that risks threatening peace in the Balkans.
At a news conference on Friday, Vucic stopped short of repeating his policy of encouraging ethnic Serbs in Kosovo to defy the Kosovo government, signaling a potential de-escalation. “A solution for the problems in Kosovo that would be satisfactory for Serbs simply does not exist,” he told reporters in Belgrade.