19 November 2022
On 19 November, the show “Ballkan” of ABC News Albania aired a reportage on northern Kosovo, featuring interviews with the Head of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, the Commander of EULEX’s Formed Police Unit (FPU), Michal Tomasz Kocot, and the Senior Police Advisor North, Peter Neuteufl.
The FPU Commander explained that members of the Formed Police Unit and Reserve Formed Police Unit are deployed in places where their presence is needed and that they are ready to handle difficult tasks.
The Head of EULEX said: “There is a security vacuum there after the resignation of most members of the Kosovo Police who used to serve there. We, as EULEX, we can only partially fill this vacuum. We have increased our patrols, and we are trying to reassure the local population. The message to everyone is to be calm and avoid any provocation”.
Explaining the Mission’s role as second security responder, Wigemark reaffirmed that EULEX does not have a mandate to take over the responsibilities of the Kosovo Police.
“The most important thing is - regardless of who is providing security - that people remain safe here, that nobody feels insecure and is threatened, and that nobody is taking advantage of this - criminal elements or any other political elements, to make the situation worse,” Wigemark stated.
The Senior Police Advisor North explained that the situation after the resignations of Kosovo Serb police officers is difficult and added: “The Police should always be a mirror of the society,” highlighting that all ethnicities should be represented.
On the same day, the international News Agency Reuters also aired a reportage covering the security situation in northern Kosovo.
The Reuters’s crew interviewed the Commander of EULEX’s Reserve Formed Police Unit, Mariano Bastanza, who explained that the Italian Carabinieri who recently deployes to Kosovo are there to support the mandate of EULEX and to monitor the situation, which is still sensitive.
Full interview with ABC News Albania: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=
Article of Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/
