Its principles of Kosovo bear responsibility for the unrest that has erupted after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in predominantly Serb northern Kosovo, the French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron told a news conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, that he hoped to meet later this week with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia.

“It is very clear that there is the responsibility of the Kosovar authorities for the current situation and non-respect of an agreement that was nevertheless important and was sealed just a few weeks ago,” Emmanuel Macron said in the interview.

For the past few days, the situation has been very tense in the region. Many members of the Serb community, which has a majority in four towns in northern Kosovo, do not recognize Pristina’s authority and are loyal to Belgrade.

Serbs boycotted the April municipal elections in these cities, which led to the election of Albanian mayors with a turnout of less than 3.5%. The installation of these mayors last week by the Kosovar government set the powder keg on fire.

“We have pointed out very clearly to the Kosovar authorities that it was a mistake to proceed with these elections,” Macron underlined.

The French head of state accused Kosovar officials of not respecting the agreement, which was the culmination of a process that had begun with European mediation, with the participation of Czech negotiators in particular, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Germany’s top foreign policy representative EU Joseph Borel and Macron himself.