North Kosovo crisis (2022–2024)
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beginning on 31 July 2022, tensions between Kosovo and Serbia heightened due to the expiration of the eleven-year validity period of documents for cars on 1 August 2022, between the government of Kosovo and the Serbs in North Kosovo. Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, signed an agreement with Serbia in 2011 that determined the use of license plates in North Kosovo. This agreement was supposed to change license plates from the ones that were issued by Serbia to neutral ones. The agreement for the change was extended in 2016 and expired in 2021, which led to a crisis in 2021 that ended with an agreement to terminate the ban of Kosovo-issued license plates in Serbia.
North Kosovo crisis | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
Serb List PKS Supported by: Serbia Diplomatic support: Republika Srpska Russia China[1] Hungary[2][3] |
NATO European Union |
Kosovo Diplomatic support: Albania[4] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
Goran Rakić Milan Radoičić Igor Simić Aleksandar Jablanović Supported by: Aleksandar Vučić Petar Petković |
Angelo Michele Ristuccia Josep Borrell Miroslav Lajčák |
Vjosa Osmani Albin Kurti Xhelal Sveçla | ||||||
Units involved | ||||||||
Serbs of Kosovo Police (2022) Civilna Zaštita[5] Severna Brigada[6] |
Kosovo Force EULEX |
Kosovo Police Kosovo Special Forces | ||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
3 members of an armed unit killed[7][8][9] |
19 wounded 11 wounded |
After a Kosovo announcement that Serbian citizens who enter Kosovo will receive entry and exit documents, a number of barricades were created in North Kosovo on 31 July 2022 but were removed two days later after Kosovo announced that it would postpone the ban on license plates issued by Serbia. In August 2022, unsuccessful negotiations regarding license plates were held, although the ID document dispute was solved. A proposed agreement, dubbed the "German-French proposal" by the media, would be the basis of consultations beginning in January 2023.
Albin Kurti declined to postpone the deadline for license plates and instead announced a phased implementation that would run from November 2022 until April 2023. Before this began, a number of Kosovo Serb police officers, mayors, judges, and Serb List members of parliament resigned from government institutions. Kosovo and Serbia negotiated again in November 2022 and they had found an agreement on 23 November 2022 which settled that license plates that Serbia issued would continue to be in use in North Kosovo.
Kosovo formally signed an application to seek candidate status for European Union membership on 14 December 2022, its impending signature resulted in a number of barricades being set up in North Kosovo on 10 December; they were dismantled on 30 December. In Serbia, far-right groups staged protests in support of Kosovo Serbs. In December 2022, Serbia submitted a request to Kosovo Force for the deployment of up to 1,000 Serbian military and police forces in Kosovo, which ended up being rejected in January 2023.
In April local elections were held, boycotted by ethnic Serbs. Based on an extremely low number of votes, ethnic Albanian mayors were elected. On 26 May 2023, Kosovo took control of the North Kosovo municipal buildings by force, to enable the newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors to physically assume office. A civil disturbance occurred, and Serbia put its armed forces on alert. The decision of Kosovo to use force was condemned by the United States and the EU. With mayors unable to perform their duties, in July Kosovo announced that new mayor elections will be held.
From 1 January 2024 Serbia implemented the 2011 agreement and recognised Kosovo license plates.[12]