At the third summit of the European Political Community (EPC) on Thursday, Kosovar President, Vjosa Osmani, underscored the imperative of sanctions against Serbia and stressed the importance of Serbia taking responsibility for the recent terrorist attack and act of aggression against Kosovo. This aggression pertains to the attack on the Kosovo Police that occurred on September 24th.

During the post-summit press conference, Osmani was questioned whether she planned to engage with him later. Osmani emphatically denied any contact with the Serbian president, before sanctions were imposed on Serbia, asserting that he was directly involved in acts of aggression against Kosovo.

In response to Osmani’s calls, Serbia’s President claimed that Serbia had “never campaigned” for imposing sanctions against Kosovo. Serbia denied any involvement in the attack, which Kosovo authorities deemed an “attempt to annex the north of Kosovo.”

“Nice pictures are not more important than the substance of what’s going on. He needs to use these kinds of meetings so that he can look like a normal European leader which he is not. Unfortunately, he is a leader of an act of aggression against his neighbor, a leader, a dictator in fact that wants to destroy the stability in the Western Balkans and of course he was taking notes for quite some time because he was getting away with it”, said Osmani.

Furthermore, President Osmani pointed out that Vucic had evaded accountability for kidnapping three Kosovo police officers within Kosovo’s territory. She also accused Vucic of involvement in attacks on 93 KFOR soldiers through his associates, all of which went unpunished. 

 “He (Vucic) keeps destabilizing Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and so on and so on, and he gets away with it. He didn’t adopt sanctions against Russia, quite the opposite, he helped Russia evade sanctions from Europe. He buys more and more weapons from Russia through which he attacks us and he signed a new Gazprom deal after Russia invaded Ukraine, he got away with all of this”, said Osmani.

Additionally, Osmani mentioned Vucic’s establishment of a so-called “Russian Humanitarian Center” near the Kosovo border, which the American Department of Defense (DOD) identifies as a Russian spy center. She expressed concern that this center endangered not only Kosovo but the entire region.

Osmani emphasized the need to learn from the events of September 24, where an armed group killed one Kosovo policeman, wounded another, and injured a third. She warned that if lessons were not drawn from this incident, Vucic might continue following Putin’s playbook. She assured that the people of Kosovo would remain committed to defending their freedom, independence, and territorial integrity.

In response, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia refuted Osmani’s call for sanctions against Serbia for the violence in northern Kosovo, stating that Serbia had “never campaigned” for sanctions against Kosovo. Serbia also rejected Kosovo’s accusations that it was responsible for the attack, which the Kosovo authorities described as an “attempt to annex the north of Kosovo.”

The third meeting of the European Political Community convened leaders from across the continent in Spain. Building on the work of previous meetings, the leaders discussed strategies to enhance Europe’s resilience, prosperity, and geopolitical significance. Enlargement of the EU was also on the agenda. A total of 44 heads of state and government participated in this third meeting of the European Political Community.