Srpska lista: Kurti regime unlawfully seizing funds of north Kosovo citizens

BELGRADE - Srpska lista, a political organisation of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs, has requested an urgent reaction by international representatives to halt an illegal decision by Pristina's PM Albin Kurti to unlawfully seize monies from a fund for development of the north of Kosovo-Metohija.

"The decision by Albin Kurti's regime to unlawfully seize from the Fund for Development of the North the funds of the citizens and municipalities in the north is a sheer denial and degradation of the Brussels agreements that have been reached in the past and which must be protected by the EU, the guarantor of the reached agreements," Srpska lista said in a statement on Thursday evening.

The organisation said that, earlier in the day, it had written to representatives of the Quint states and the EU special representative in Pristina to make a clear request that they halt most urgently the illegal and unlawful decision by Kurti's regime, which it said did not only not respect its commitments from the Brussels talks but was doing everything to annul the resulting agreements.

Srpska lista noted that an agreement guaranteed that all funds gleaned at the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings from goods imports for the four northern municipalities would be used for development of the municipalities and infrastructure projects that would improve the citizens' quality of life.

"This decision runs absolutely counter to the purpose of the fund and the applicable agreement," it added.

Under the agreement, monies from the fund are to be used following unanimous decisions by a three-member body comprised of representatives of Pristina, the local Serbs and the EU, but the body has not met and has not made such a decision, Srpska lista said, noting that execution of the decision would represent "a classic case of a robbery of the money of the citizens of North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok."