EU threatens Serbia and Kosovo with consequences for violence

The EU has threatened to impose punitive measures on Serbia and Kosovo if they do not avert a repeat of violence that targetted international peacekeepers after disputed elections of local mayors.

"Failure to de-escalate the tensions will lead to negative consequences," the EU said in a statement published on Saturday.

The statement called for the urgent restoration of calm in northern Kosovo, where at the end of May, Serb militants attacked NATO peacekeepers with incendiary devices and stones during protests in the village of Zvečan. Thirty Italian and Hungarian soldiers and more than 50 Serbs were injured.

Exactly what the threatened "decisive measures" might look like was not explained. It would be conceivable, for example, to reduce the financial support that the two countries receive as candidates for EU accession. Cooperation could also be restricted.

"The violence could have been avoided and must be avoided in the future," the statement published by Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell on behalf of the EU said with regard to the riots.

The EU urged Kosovo and Serbia to take immediate and unconditional action to de-escalate the situation and to "stop using divisive rhetoric and refrain from any further uncoordinated actions."

The recent protests ignited after the election of new mayors in northern Kosovo - politicians of Albanian origin who prevailed in by-elections that the Serbs boycotted at the behest of the government in Belgrade.