US Ambassador to Kosovo: The establishment of the CSM is binding and we will not change our stance on it

(Patria) - US Ambassador to Pristina Jeffrey Hovenier stated that the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) has no alternative, that the agreement on its establishment is legally binding, and that the US will not change its stance on it. 

"The establishment of the CSM with a Serb majority is not an option. It is a legally binding agreement that Kosovo has undertaken. A legally binding agreement that was confirmed by the Assembly of Kosovo. Countries cannot decide which legally binding agreements to implement and which not to," Hovenier said, as reported by Reporteri.

He assessed that the "CSM is in Kosovo's interest" and that fulfilling this condition would accelerate the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

The barricades that Serbs erected 20 days ago in northern Kosovo have been removed, and Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti has denied that there was a secret agreement with Belgrade on the removal of barricades in northern Kosovo.

Kurti stated that the only guarantee Pristina gave to representatives of the international community was that there were no arrest warrants for Serbs in the north, and he categorically denied giving guarantees for the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, reports Reporteri.

He added that meetings regarding the situation in northern Kosovo were held only with representatives of KFOR and EULEX, and the ambassadors of the Quint and the US.

He believes that the push for the removal of barricades has intensified in recent days "because the Kosovo police have shown determination to remove them".

Kurti says it is good that the Serbs removed the barricades themselves.

"It is much better for them to be removed by those who blocked themselves, than for the Kosovo police to force them to do so," Kurti added.