Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in Pristina on August 9 that he welcomed a letter this week from dozens of European and U.S. legislators to the top EU, U.S., and U.K. envoys urging the international community to avoid a "Belgrade-centered policy for the Balkans."
Kurti, who rose to power three years ago vowing greater reciprocity in the former Serbian province's relations with the nationalist government in Belgrade, told a government session that the foreign lawmakers' initiative "strengthens our commitment to the full de-escalation of the situation in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, commitment to democracy, legality, and constitutionality."
Tensions between majority Albanians in Kosovo and local Serbs supported by Belgrade erupted into ethnic violence that injured dozens of NATO peacekeepers in northern Kosovo in late May, after municipal elections a month earlier that were boycotted by ethnic Serbs.
The United States and European Union each criticized Pristina's lack of coordination when it tried to forcibly install ethnic Albanian mayors in Serb-majority areas in late May.
Weeks later, Serbian authorities detained three Kosovar police officers near their mutual border under unclear circumstances and held them for days.
The role of Serbian agitators in the violence and tough rhetoric from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic helped fuel criticism among international observers that the West was bending too much to accommodate Belgrade in the long-running spat.
More than a decade of EU-mediated talks have failed to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 and is recognized by more than 100 countries but not Serbia, Russia, nor a handful of EU member states.
Fifty-six legislators from Britain, the United States, and a number of EU and non-EU states recently called on Washington, Brussels, and London to "change our approach to Kosovo and Serbia," according to one of the signatories, Alicia Kearns, Conservative chairwoman of the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
They addressed their call to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
It pointed to signs of "a rapidly deteriorating situation which not only threatens the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, but regional peace itself."
It urged Pristina to better coordinate with KFOR but also bemoaned a "lack of pressure on Serbia" after its detention of the Kosovar police officers.
"We are asking for balance and proportionality to return in dealing with Kosovo and Serbia," the letter said.
It acknowledged the recent imposition of sanctions by Washington of Aleksandar Vulin, a longtime nationalist Vucic ally who runs Serbia's Security and Information Agency (BIA).
"The current approach is not working," it warned.
Signatories of the letter, which was made public on August 7, include 10 chairpersons of parliamentary foreign-affairs committees, including U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey).
Borrell confirmed receipt of the letter but said through a spokesman that he would not comment on its contents.