Germany and France warn Pristina of "grave consequences"

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci says he would sign the decree for revoking the law on the special court if the Kosovo Assembly voted this way.

SOURCE: TANJUG, UNMIKONLINE.ORG THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018

Otherwise, Thaci told Voice of America in an interview, he would be "violating the Constitution."

“It is my constitutional and legal obligation, and I cannot deny or turn down the will of the MPs,” he said, according to Tanjug, which cited UNMIK's Media Observer.

“The process that I led aimed at establishing the special court, although it is historically unjust, I did only to maintain our partnership with the United States of America, the European Union and NATO," Thaci said.

Asked to comment on reactions by the international community and foreign ambassadors in Pristina against the initiative to revoke the law, Thaci said he was "worried with the exaggerations in this initiative of Kosovo MPs" - and that the "exaggerated and unnecessary" reactions have created panic "among the people."

"It should be understood that MPs take decisions in the Assembly; people who are directly elected by the citizens, and not by brutal or violent interference against caucuses, or the calls of a certain ambassador that tonight is the time to fire teargas in the Assembly. I think that these calls seriously violate democracy in Kosovo," he said.

Meanwhile, Pristina-based Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore is reporting on Thursday that "a delegation of French and German officials arrived in Kosovo on Wednesday on an urgent mission to quench any initiative aimed at revoking the special court."

According to the article, citing "reliable sources," the delegation met with Thaci and with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and "warned them that if the special court is revoked Kosovo’s leaders would face 'grave consequences'."

The German Embassy in Pristina issued a press release saying that the reason behind the visit are the recent efforts to revoke the law on the special court.