Kosovo

Serbia hit with UEFA charges and inquiry for fan misconduct at Euro 2024

UEFA filed one disciplinary charge and opened a separate investigation into alleged discrimination by Serbia fans at the European Championship game against England. The details were not specified by UEFA on Monday but followed a formal complaint by the soccer federation of Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 that its neighbor has never recognized. UEFA's disciplinary panel will consider a charge against Serbia of its fans transmitting a provocative message unfit for a sports event and throwing objects during England's 1-0 win on Sunday at Gelsenkirchen. Serbia fans displayed a national flag which included in its borders the territory of Kosovo, its former republic. Kosovan soccer officials alerted UEFA to flags, chants and banners which they said contained political, chauvinistic and racist messages against their country. The charges should be judged before Thursday, when Serbia plays its second Euro 2024 game against Slovenia in Munich. A fine would typically

Serbia, Kosovo leaders spar at UN over latter's ban of Serbian dinar

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo sparred at the United Nations over the latter's ban of the use of the Serbian currency in areas where minority Serbs live, the latest crisis between the two governments. Tensions escalated after the government of Kosovo, a former Serbian province, banned banks and other financial institutions in the Serb-populated areas from using the dinar in local transactions, starting Feb. 1, and imposed the euro. The dinar was widely used in ethnic Serbian-dominated areas, especially in Kosovo's north, to pay pensions and salaries to staff in Serbian parallel institutions, including schools and hospitals. Serbia said last week it would seek an emergency meeting at the U.N. Security Council over the issue. In 1999, a 78-day NATO bombing campaign ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. Serbian forces were pushed out but Belgrade never recognized Kosovo's independence and still considers it a Serbian province. At a

EU leaders to hold summit with Western Balkans nations for joining the bloc

Leaders from the European Union and the Western Balkans will hold a summit in Albania's capital on Monday to discuss the path to membership in the bloc for the six countries of the region. The main topics at the annual talks called the Berlin Process are integrating the Western Balkans into a single market and supporting their green and digital transformation. The nations in the region are Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The senior EU officials attending the summit in Tirana are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel. They will be joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. The six Western Balkan countries are at different stages of integration into the bloc. Serbia and Montenegro were the first Western Balkan countries to launch membership negotiations a few years ago, followed by Albania and Macedonia last year, while Bosnia and Kosovo have only begun the fi

EU summons Kosovo, Serbia leaders for emergency talks amid conflict fears

The European Union has summoned the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo for emergency talks on Thursday to try to bring an end to a series of violent clashes near their border that is fuelling fears of a return to open conflict. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that he would hold urgent meetings with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels. It was unclear whether the two would meet face-to-face, or only hold separate talks with Borrell. We need immediate de-escalation and new elections in the north with participation of Kosovo Serbs. This is paramount for the region and (the) EU, Borrell tweeted ahead of the talks. The 27-nation bloc has for years been leading talks aimed at reconciling the two foes, but with little success. Serbia and its former province Kosovo have been at odds for decades. Their 1998-99 conflict left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians. Belgrade has refused to recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration o

Disturbances in Kosovo won't affect visit of President Murmu to Serbia: MEA

President Murmu will pay a State Visit to Serbia on June 7, at the invitation of Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia

USAID chief optimistic on Serbia-Kosovo talks, pledges US support

The United States' top international development official on Friday said Washington is focusing on the urgency of normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia in EU-brokered talks between the two former war foes. USAID Administrator Samantha Power has been in Kosovo for the past two days, following a three-day visit to Serbia. As the most senior representative of US President Joe Biden to visit Kosovo recently, she said her country's focus now was on the importance of implementation of the agreements that will produce a normalisation that will be incredibly important for Kosovo and for Serbia. Over the two days of her trip, Power visited a local farm and food processing facility. She met with young entrepreneurs at a hub for innovation and also spoke to young peacemakers bridging divides between Kosovo and Serbia. Normalisation is going to be really, really good for business, she said at a news conference. The good that normalisation will do for the young people of this countr

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Serbia places its troops on Kosovo border on combat alert, ignores NATO

Serbia on Monday placed its security troops on the border with Kosovo on "the full state of combat readiness", ignoring NATO's calls for calming down of tensions between the two wartime Balkan foes. Serbia's Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said he "ordered the full combat readiness" of police and other security units and that they be placed under the command of the army chief of staff according to "their operational plan. He said in a statement that he acted on the orders of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so that "all measures be taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo". It was not immediately clear what this order meant on the ground as Serbian troops have been on alert for a while on the border with Kosovo. Officials claim alleged harassment of Kosovo Serbs by ethnic Albanians who are a majority in the breakaway province that declared its independence in 2008. Earlier Monday, NATO-led peacekeepers said they were investigating a shooting incident in a tense northern ..

North Kosovo tense amid overnight explosions, Serbs blocking roads

Tensions were high in northern Kosovo on Sunday, with Serbs blocking roads as shots and explosions rang out overnight, Kosovo police and media reported Sunday. No injuries were reported. The blocking of the roads with heavy vehicles and trucks happened a day after the Serbian president said he would ask the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo to permit the deployment of 1,000 Serb troops in the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, claiming they are being harassed there. The road blocks, which Serbs say were erected to protest recent arrest of a former Kosovo Serb police officer, came despite the postponement of the Dec. 18 municipal election the Kosovo Serbs were opposed to. Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that his message to the Serbs in Kosovo is that there is no surrender and there will be no surrender. He claimed the Serbs had been forced to erect the road barricades to protect themselves from Kosovo security forces. The European Union rule of law mission, known as

Kosovo border crisis an opportunity for Nato, EU to pressure Russia

Dispute over decision by Kosovo govt to enforce use of Kosovo-issued licence plates for Serbs in northern municipalities rather than allowing them to use plates issued by Serbian govt has flared up.

Kosovo postpones entry restrictions that caused tensions in North

The authorities of self-proclaimed Kosovo announced after US Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier's appeal that they were postponing the entry restrictions for Serbs caused alarming tensions in the region.

Kosovo gets new president, its second female leader in the post-war period

Lawmakers in Kosovo elected and swore in a new president Sunday for a five-year term, the Balkan nation's second female leader

Trump announces normalisation of economic ties between Serbia and Kosovo

Trump announced normalisation of economic ties between Serbia and Kosovo, saying that the two countries were able to reach a "real breakthrough" on economic cooperation across a broad range of issues

Kosovo says French police have detained its former premier Haradinaj

It was done based on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia

Assailants strike Kosovo's Parliament with explosive

Blast comes amid tensions over a border demarcation deal that the government has reached with Montenegro