The European Union has called on Kosovo and Serbia to refrain from incendiary rhetoric and comply with a Brussels agreement on justice and disciplinary procedures in Kosovo’s justice system.
It follows the suspension of Judge Ljiljana Stefanovic, the Serbian President of the Basic Court of Mitrovica in Kosovo, by the country’s Judicial Council after she attended a meeting of the Serbian National Security Council in Belgrade on March 22, headed by President Aleksandar Vucic.
Senior EU spokesperson Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels that the 2017 agreement had enabled the integration of Kosovo’s Serbian community into the judicial system, and it should be upheld, while disciplinary procedures should also be respected, RFE reported.
The Serbian president accused the Kosovo prime minister of having pressured the Judicial Council into suspending the Serbian judge.
“I’m neither chairman nor member of the Kosovo Judicial Council. The judiciary is independent from the Government. Maybe in Serbia the president suspends and removes judges and prosecutors. That’s not the case in Kosovo or with Judge Stevanovic. We’re the most democratic country in the Western Balkan Six, fully aligned with the EU and NATO,” Prime Minister Albin Kurti replied.
