On July 31st, hundreds of ethnic Serbian protesters blocked access to two crossings towards Serbia by parking trucks, tankers, and other large transport vehicles. This act of defiance comes after the government in Pristina said on Monday, August 1st, that individuals entering Kosovo with Serbian IDs would have to replace them with a temperance document during their stay in Kosovo. In addition, ethnic Serbians with vehicle registration plates issued by Serbia must replace them with Kosovo license plates in the following two months. Following the sparked tensions, Kosovo’s government has postponed the new implementations for 30 days until September 1st.

Unilaterally proclaiming independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo is recognized by about 99 out of 193 United Nations states, including the United States, the U.K. and 22 out of 27 EU countries. However, Serbia, Russia, and China refuse to do so, and approximately 50,000 ethnic Serbians, who make up the majority in the northern region of Kosovo, do not recognize Pristina’s authority and remain loyal to Serbia. To create equal treatment of Kosovan and Serbian citizens, the government in Kosovo proposed new regulations targeting ethnic Serbian citizens, replacing Serbian IDs with provisional identity cards and changing Serbian license plates with Kosovan ones.

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, explained the new rules were a reciprocal move since the government in Belgrade requires the same from Kosovo citizens entering Serbia. Such news caused hundreds of ethnic Serbians in Kosovo to block access to the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings in northern Kosovo, leading to Serbia and unknown gunmen firing on police. However, no casualties or injuries were reported, police director Samedin Mehmeti told BIRN. Upon deliberation with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier asked Kosovo’s government to delay the new regulations “because it seems that there was misinformation and misunderstanding about the decision,” according to the BBC’s Guy De Launey. Serbian President Alexandar Vučić also expected tensions to “de-escalate” following the postponement of the rule.

Despite the new regulations being postponed and barricades removed, the renewed ethnic tensions have revived the longstanding relationships between the Albanian-dominated government and the Serbian minority 14 years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and 23 years after the Kosovo war.

As the EU has been trying to mediate the relationship between Belgrade and Pristina since 2013, much of the efforts can be considered lukewarm as the two sides have not changed their agendas since Kosovo declared independence in 2008. Ultimately, it is time for the EU to take a hard stance on addressing the status issue by orchestrating a mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia. While it is near impossible for a solution to the conflict and unrest in the region at this stage, a potential step in the right direction can be described as creating tolerance. As neither side has been willing to compromise, perhaps it is time to shift towards normalizing economic relations between Belgrade and Pristina in hopes of future generations being desensitized to seeing each other as the enemy and becoming open to equal treatment.