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| Dutch Parliament |
The Netherlands becomes the first European Union country to condemn Serbia for its recent behavior. The country's parliament passed a resolution calling on its government to advocate in Brussels for the temporary suspension of the visa-free regime for Serbian citizens, at least until March 2023.
The proposal was submitted because "Serbia is not in harmony with the visa and foreign policy of the EU".
Rarely, the resolution, which was proposed by the majority deputies, received the support of the ruling coalition and opposition lawmakers.
"The House of Representatives supports our proposal for a stricter approach to Serbia if President Vucic does not support sanctions against Russia. Stopping Serbia's EU accession process could be an option. We will not hesitate to use it", emphasized MP Joeren van Wijngarden from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.
The proposal comes while the situation in the north of Kosovo continues to remain tense. Main roads remain blocked, on the third day of protests organized by ethnic Serbs. The tonnage vehicles located since Friday afternoon in Rudara, continue to be in the middle of the road, as the Albanian media testified, making traffic impossible from the border points of Jarinja and Bërnjak. Near the barricade, there are troops of KFOR, but not of the Kosovo Police and EULEX.
Thus, the regional authorities have declared that primary and secondary schools in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo will be closed until further notice due to the current security situation. On the eve of a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, the head of European diplomacy, Josef Borrell, called on the parties to de-escalate the situation. "Kosovo and Serbia must return to dialogue, they must overcome the tendency streets fight."
Earlier, the German Foreign Minister strongly reacted to the statement of President Aleksandër Vucic, that he is considering sending the army to the north of Kosovo. "Kosovo reduced tensions by postponing local elections. The latest rhetoric from Serbia did the opposite. The suggestion to send Serbian forces to Kosovo is totally unacceptable. Such is the recent attacks against EULEX in Kosovo. My support goes all the way to EU-mediated dialogue," she said.
The situation in the north of Kosovo, where a number of violent incidents have been recorded in recent days, escalated on Saturday evening, after the exchange of fire between the police and local Serbs, as a result of the arrest of a former Serbian police officer, Dejan Pantic. .