Pantic Pilja: Belgrade has taken Pristina's CoE special guest request off agenda

PARIS - Belgrade has succeeded in taking Pristina's request for special guest status in the Council of Europe (CoE) off the agenda of Wednesday's session of the organisation's Political Committee, says Biljana Pantic Prlja, who heads the Serbian delegation to the CoE.

In a statement to Tanjug, Pantic Pilja said the so-called Kosovo had made a request to transition to special guest status from "other delegation" status, which she noted did not exist under the CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rulebook and had been awarded only to Pristina.

She said the request had been sent to the CoE Political Committee but that the Serbian delegation had pointed out that there were no grounds to give the so-called Kosovo special guest status and that Pristina's PM Albin Kurti would use the move for election campaigning.

"Secondly, they (Pristina) have honoured nothing from the Brussels Agreement or the report by the CoE special rapporteur for 'Kosovo' Dora Bakoyannis, in which she listed everything they need to do, especially in view of the fact the Serb population in Kosovo-Metohija is being terrorised by Kurti on a daily basis, that there is no respect of human and minority rights and that there is not an ounce of democracy in Kosovo-Metohija," she noted.

Pantic Pilja said the Serbian delegation had presented those facts to all members of the Committee and written to CoE member states, with support from President Aleksandar Vucic, to appeal that Pristina's request not be included in the agenda.

She said Committee Chairman Bertrand Bouyx had said the request had arrived but should not be debated at this time, but postponed until January.

She added that Serbia had had full support from members of the Hungarian and Spanish delegations who held the position that the request should not be debated as that would deepen a gap that existed in the PACE.

"So, evidently, today they did not have the consensus to debate this, which is why it was not on the agenda," Pantic Pilja said.

She explained Belarus was currently the only country with special guest status in the PACE and that the status was awarded only to states.

One of Serbia's arguments is that the so-called Kosovo is not a state, she added.