Petkovic slams Bakoyannis over article defending so-called Kosovo's CoE bid

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic on Wednesday slammed Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur Dora Bakoyannis over an article in which she said numerous reforms had been requested from the so-called Kosovo, without mentioning Pristina's violations of the rights of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and failure to meet its obligations, including establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities.

"Shame on you, Dora Bakoyannis! One cannot tell which is worse - your hideous report or everything you are saying in defence of the so-called Kosovo," Petkovic wrote in a post on the social media network X.

He noted that Bakoyannis "disgraceful" report made no mention of Pristina's refusal to establish the Community and that the rights of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs were being violated on a daily basis.

"You mention the alleged numerous reforms set (as a condition) for the so-called Kosovo's CoE membership but you did not say a word about the fact that, for 11 years, Pristina has been failing to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities, that it is arresting and beating up Serbs on a daily basis, that it has been blocking transports of Serbian goods for 10 months, that it is abolishing the dinar and banning salaries and pensions for Serbs, conducting an ethnic cleansing of Serbs, using institutional violence, imposing false mayors in the north, ploughing Serb cemeteries and taking away Serb property," Petkovic said.

In an article for European Western Balkans, Bakoyannis said no CoE membership candidate had been requested to carry out more reforms before a debate on admission to the organisation than the so-called Kosovo.