Residents of four Serb-majority municipalities are casting their votes Sunday on removing their ethnic Albanian mayors from office following last year’s mayoral elections, overwhelmingly boycotted by the Serb minority. The referendum — supported by the West — is an attempt to diffuse tensions between Kosovo and its neighboring Serbia as both countries vie to join the European Union.
Kosovo's government began Friday its first nationwide census since 2011, which will include surveying the ethnic Serb minority in the north, at a time when tensions with neighboring Serbia are high. The Agency of Statistics is conducting the 12-million euro ($13 million) census, originally set to take place in 2021 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Kosovar government, the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, U.N. organizations and the World Bank are funding the census which wi
Kosovo's government began Friday its first nationwide census since 2011, which will include surveying the ethnic Serb minority in the north, at a time when tensions with neighboring Serbia are high. The Agency of Statistics is conducting the 12-million euro ($13 million) census, originally set to take place in 2021 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Kosovar government, the EU's statistical office, Eurostat, U.N. organizations and the World Bank are funding the census which will tally the number of people residing in the country, family households, their education and employment, as well as the number of locals living abroad.
Kosovo may be on the verge of a fresh crisis after the government threatened to ban the use of Serbian money this week, with a chorus of Western countries warning it could ignite a firestorm.Western governments have lambasted the move as inflammatory, warning the regulation would likely destabilise already tense relations between Serbs and the Pristina government.