Vucic: Situation in Kosovo-Metohija contrary to UN resolutions

NEW YORK - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday's extraordinary UN Security Council session on Kosovo-Metohija had been called due to a situation that was contrary to UN resolutions and the UN Charter and could cause "irreparable harm".

Addressing the UN body, Vucic said the immediate reason for Serbia's request for an extraordinary session was a recent move by the so-called Kosovo central bank whereby payment transactions in the Serbian dinar had been banned in Kosovo-Metohija as of February 1.

He said this was a culmination of attacks on Serbs and other non-Albanians in Serbia's southern province as, to a large extent, their survival was directly dependent on "dinar assets coming, first and foremost, from the budget of the Republic of Serbia."

"Through the decision to ban dinar payment transactions, Pristina's regime directly disables any operation of all medical, educational, social, cultural and other institutions that enable Serbs to provide themselves and their families with basic provisions, to have education, to get medical treatment, buy medications and do everything that is considered to be ordinary life with a minimum of human dignity," Vucic said.

"Precisely these institutions are the basis for establishment of the community of Serb-majority municipalities, whose competencies and structure are clearly defined in the agreement on general principles, signed in 2015. Article 17, Item D of this agreement defines clearly that Serbia has the right to finance the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) - among other things, education and health care... ...Any prevention of financing of Serbian schools, kindergartens, faculties, hospitals and infirmaries is a direct blow to both the survival of Serbs and to the establishment of the CSM," he said, noting that the only objective of the Pristina regime was to create "unbearable living conditions" and deprive the Serbs of the possibility of survival.

Vucic noted that the dinar was the legal tender in Serbia and could not be banned in Kosovo-Metohija as a part of Serbia, and added that Pristina had adopted the euro illegally by a unilateral decision.