tvpworld.com <https://tvpworld.com/64362959/serbs-in-northern-kosovo-quit-state-jobs-in-protest-over-licence-plate-enforcement>
Serbs in northern Kosovo quit state jobs in protest over licence plate enforcement Telewizja Polska S.A 4-5 minutes _____ Serbs in the north of Kosovo employed in Kosovar institutions said on Saturday they were quitting their posts, including in the government, police, and courts to protest Pristina's order for them to start using Kosovo vehicle licence plates. The long-running licence plate row has stoked tensions between Serbia and its former Albanian-majority province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. Kosovo is also home to a Belgrade-backed 50,000 Serb minority, which is concentrated in the north and where they in fact are in the majority. Following a meeting of Serb political representatives in the north of Kosovo, Minister of Communities and Returns Goran Rakić said he was resigning from his post in the Pristina government. He told reporters that fellow representatives of the Serb minority had also quit their jobs in municipal administrations, the courts, the police, as well as the parliament and government in Pristina. He said they would not consider returning unless Pristina abolishes the order for them to switch their old car licence plates, which date to the 1990s when Kosovo was a part of Serbia, to Kosovar state plates. Rakić also said that he and his fellow Serb representatives demand the formation of a union of Serb municipalities giving Serb-majority districts greater autonomy. Prime Minister Albin Kurti urged the Serbs not to "boycott or abandon Kosovo's institutions". “They serve all of us, every single one of you. Don't fall prey to political manipulations and geopolitical games,” PM Kurti wrote in a Facebook post. An interior ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters some police units were extending shifts to up to 12 hours from the normal eight to make up for the absence of the Serb officers. Blerim Vela, chief-of-staff to Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani, tweeted that Belgrade “is coercing and inciting Kosovo Serbs to abandon their jobs in Kosovo institutions”, while in Serbia, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said her government “stands by our brave and proud [Serb] people in Kosovo”. The Kosovar government has said it will start issuing fines this month to Serb drivers using old pre-independence plates and will confiscate vehicles that have not had their registration numbers changed by April 21, 2023. Kosovo's main backers, the United States and the European Union, have urged Kurti to postpone implementing the car plates ruling for another 10 months, the request of which Kosovar PM has refused. source: Reuters -- http:www.antic.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SERBIAN NEWS NETWORK" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/senet/087d01d8f1c4%24ce1b76a0%246a5263e0%24%40gmail.com.
