Shooting against a EULEX vehicle at a key moment for Kosovo

(BRUSSELS2) Unidentified persons shot at a EULEX vehicle this Friday morning (7 September) traveling in northern Kosovo. A Kosovar policeman who accompanied them was slightly injured. As several officers from the European Police Force were driving to Zubin Potok to pay a visit to a local police station, several masked individuals sprung onto the road between Zupce and Zubin Potok, near the village of Varage. An attack immediately condemned by Samuel Zbogar, EU special representative in Kosovo. "I strongly condemn this act of unjustified violence. lives were put at risk. It illustrates and reinforces the need for a more successful rule of law in this part of Kosovo. The offices of the Special Representative and EULEX will continue to work together on this.". And Xavier de Marnhac, head of the "Rule of Law" mission (EULEX) adds "The perpetrators must be brought to justice as quickly as possible. I appeal to anyone who may have information about the incident to contact the police».

Local actors also immediately announced their condemnations. This while the director of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, Alexandar Valin, was today visiting Pristina and southern Kosovo. Valin himself called on the representatives of the international community to bring the perpetrators to justice and specified that Serbia was at the disposal of the international community on this subject, before canceling his visit to the south to meet the Kosovo Serb officials, according to the Serbian agency beta news. Local politicians, including district governor Radenko Nedeljkovic, also condemned the act of "vandalism" and agreed that "the attack is a confirmation that these acts are coordinated in order to destabilize the northern part of the country (where the Serbian majority does not accept the Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence) and thus make it easier to integrate the north of the country into the Kosovo system.”  

The moment of the attack is not quite innocent when Kosovo will acquire its full sovereignty during the meeting, Monday, September 10, of the international orientation group on Kosovo (International Steering Group). Full responsibility will then be left to the Constitution, to Parliament, to the national courts... In short, a key moment in the construction of the youngest of European states.