Kosovo's government has announced that it will reduce by one-quarter the number of special police deployed around administrative buildings in the ethnic Serb-majority north and organize fresh mayoral elections in four northern municipalities as part of measures to de-escalate simmering tensions with neighboring Serbia.
The steps are to be "finalized within a two-week period," the government said in a statement late on July 11.
The announcement came following an informal meeting in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava, between Kosovar Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi and the EU's special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak.
Clashes broke out last month between international peacekeepers and ethnic Serbs after three ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election that Serbs boycotted.
The ethnic Albanian mayors were installed with the help of special Kosovar police in the four municipalities with overwhelming Serbian majorities following by-elections in April with a turnout of under 3.5 percent amid the Serbs' boycott.
The boycott is part of a campaign for greater autonomy for Kosovo's Serbs and has been backed by Belgrade.
The United States and the European Union have called on Prime Minister Albin Kurti to withdraw the mayors, remove the special police used to install them, and uphold a 2013 deal for an association of autonomous Serbian municipalities in the region.
SEE ALSO: EU Envoy Says Pristina Must Take Steps To De-Escalate Tensions Before Sanctions Will Be EasedThe government statement said that new elections will be held after the summer in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north.
"The government of Kosovo, through this public statement, backs the holding of early elections in the four municipalities after the summer season," the statement said, adding that Kosovo's state institutions will ensure the necessary legal basis for holding the elections.
The statement also said that the Kosovar police, in coordination with the EU Rule of Law mission (EULEX) and the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission, will assess the security situation "in particular to look at the possibility of further reducing the police presence in and around municipal buildings."