Pristina "must respect the commitments it has made with Europe", especially on the minority ethnic Serbs in Kosovo's troubled north, Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday.
"On the issue of Kosovo, Pristina must respect the commitments it has made with Europe, especially with regard to the communities that live in the north of Kosovo and they are Serb communities," he said at press conference in Trieste with Serb premier Milos Vucevic during a bilateral forum.
"Our military will continue to ensure stability and peace in the area, also protecting Serbian monasteries, because they are Christian monasteries that cannot under any circumstances be attacked or desecrated," Tajani said.
Kosovar police said they had closed six branches of a Serbian bank in the north on Monday, nearly four months after Pristina banned transactions in Serbian dinars, a move which Serbia called "terrorising" ethnic Serbs.
Police also removed the Serbian finance ministry's sign above the main entrance of the six bank branches, according to reports.
Kosovo premier Albin Kurti "continues with the terror against the Serbian people in Kosovo", Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement.
"If the international community does not come to its senses, all this leads to new conflicts in the Balkans with unforeseeable consequences," the statement continued.
Ethnic Albanians make up some 90 percent of Kosovo's population of 1.8 million people, but ethnic Serbs are in the majority in several northern municipalities.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move that Belgrade still does not recognise. A potential EU candidate, Kosovo adopted the euro in 2002.
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