Petkovic: Belgrade supports Lajcak's efforts

BELGRADE - At a meeting with ambassadors and representatives of Quint states and the head of the EU Delegation to Belgrade, the director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic conveyed Belgrade's clear message that a Community of Serb Municipalities, which is 11 years overdue, must be established in Kosovo-Metohija.

The meeting was co-hosted by Serbian Ambassador to the US Marko Djuric.

Petkovic noted that Belgrade highly appreciated and supported the efforts invested by the EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak in launching the process of forming the Community, the Office for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement.

Petkovic and Djuric reiterated Belgrade's position that the Community's draft statute, prepared by the EU and dealing with the powers and the structure of the Community, could be a good foundation for a continuation of the dialogue and a final agreement on the document.

Petkovic said Belgrade's delegation had had several constructive meetings about the draft with EU experts last year but that, unfortunately, discussions about the topic had ground to a halt as soon as Pristina's PM Albin Kurti had made a unilateral decision to abolish the Serbian dinar in Kosovo-Metohija.

"Any substantial headway in the dialogue on the issue of the Community of Serb Municipalities is important, and that is why, besides the draft statute of the Steering Team, the Serbian delegation has also accepted to work on the EU-drafted statute, in the section dealing with concrete steps towards forming the Community, without prejudice to status issues. Accordingly, Belgrade has expressed full readiness for the discussions on the Statute to be continued from where they have unnecessarily ground to a halt, through no fault whatsoever of Belgrade," the statement said.

Speaking about the dinar ban, Petkovic said Brussels discussions on the issue had been difficult and that Belgrade's delegation had made proposals and comments to help resolve the crisis resulting from Pristina's decision to suspend the dinar and cash operations with central Serbia.

He noted the problem must be resolved urgently as it put the physical survival of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija in jeopardy.

Petkovic noted that Pristina had been refusing to form the Community for 11 years now and that that was the very source of all the problems created by the Kurti regime.

He added that Pristina's daily violence against Serbs and its sheer hatred of everything that is Serbian in Kosovo-Metohija were a threat to hard-earned stability on the ground and across the region.

Petkovic also said a recent referendum to recall false ethnic Albanian mayors in the north of Kosovo-Metohija had been designed to fail to enable Kurti to continue to exercise power in four Serb municipalities with 3.5 pct voter support.

"And it turns out that for all that, for the most blatant violations of the human rights of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, which are taking place in front of the eyes of the international community, the Pristina interim authorities have unfortunately been rewarded with launching the proceedings for membership in the Council of Europe," Petkovic said.

He said Belgrade had met all its commitments from the Brussels dialogue and continued to participate in further discussions in the best of faiths, believing that it was necessary to preserve peace on the ground and reach a joint solution and compromise.