Petkovic: At meeting with Lajcak, Vucic noted difficult position of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Monday that, at a meeting with the EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had noted the difficult position of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs and that Pristina needed to stop making escalatory moves that disrupted the lives of Serbs.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Petkovic said Vucic had insisted that Pristina's PM Albin Kurti stops making provocations leading to further escalatory moves including a decision to ban the Serbian dinar in Kosovo-Metohija.

He said the decision was aimed at expelling Serbs living both north and south of the Ibar River in order to "put an end to dialogue."

"Belgrade stands ready to discuss normalisation of Belgrade-Pristina relations - that is how we look after Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija," Petkovic said.

He said peace was much needed but that Kurti was "doing everything through his moves and decisions to jeopardise that peace and expel Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija."

"We will fight in a democratic manner to safeguard our people and do everything for the normalisation process to make sense because when you normalise relations, that, above all, implies that you introduce a kind of normality in everyday life, and let Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija live normal lives. So that children can go to school and people can go to work and have the right to receive their salaries, pensions and welfare benefits and everything that is necessary for the Serbs to be able to survive and remain in Kosovo-Metohija, which is why we need a Community of Serb Municipalities," Petkovic said.

He said Vucic had also noted the necessity of establishing the Community to create the necessary mechanism and framework for the survival of Serbs and safeguard and improve their individual and collective rights "since those rights are clearly violated by Pristina every day, including when they storm our municipalities and want to expel the Serbs through the most diverse moves."

"The president noted the very difficult position of the Kosovo-Metohija Serbs and that Pristina needs to stop making new escalatory moves. Vucic noted the necessity of establishing the Community of Serb Municipalities, which Belgrade and the Kosovo-Metohija Serbs have been waiting for for more than ten years," Petkovic said.

The meeting had lasted over an hour and was not an easy one, Petkovic said, adding that Vucic had underlined, in a clear and argumented manner, the real problems when it comes to normalisation of relations.