Week in Review: Big Gambles Amid Potential Breakthroughs

Gamble

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti outside the Government building in Pristina, Kosovo, October 27, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

For the last two weeks, much of the region has been glued to developments in north Kosovo. Amid scenes of violence that have not been seen for some time, Western governments have piled the blame primarily on Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti for the latest escalation.

Our analysis takes a look at the tense stand-off between the EU and European countries on the one hand and the Kurti Government on the other, as well as the damage it is doing to Kosovo. Has Kurti gambled away Kosovo's cards in the north?

Read more: Kosovo's Kurti Under Mounting Pressure Amid Quarrel with Western Allies (June 8, 2023)

Read more: Kurti has Lost the Plot in the North of Kosovo (June 2, 2023)

Reality Check

A soldier of the Austrian contingent of the NATO-led international peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) stands guard in Zvecan, Kosovo, 01 June 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

While the international community piles pressure on Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, what is driving ethnic Serb anger in north Kosovo? Kurti and other officials from Pristina have tried to paint a picture of the north as being in the grips of a 'fascist militia'.

Yet as Ian Bancroft explains in his opinion piece for Balkan Insight, this is a far cry from reality. Serbs in north Kosovo have very real grievances and the sooner the Kurti government faces up to these the better for all concerned.

Read more: In North Kosovo, Expect the Expected (June 7, 2023)

Breakthrough?

Montenegrin electoral campaign billboards in capital Podgorica. Photo: BIRN/Samir...