Petkovic: Serb municipalities backbone of Brussels Agreement

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Monday the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities was the backbone of the Brussels Agreement and that Pristina had rejected Belgrade's constructive proposal of a draft statute of the Community.

Speaking to Pink TV, Petkovic said Pristina's PM Albin Kurti had also rejected an EU proposal and then made a unilateral decision to ban the dinar in Kosovo-Metohija after seeing that everything was heading towards a final framework for the proposal.

"We made a good step forward when it comes to the Community of Serb Municipalities and the statute by (EU special envoy) Miroslav Lajcak. Pristina saw that, that things were heading towards a deal on a final statute getting increasingly close, and that the discussions, in fact, made sense and that our experts had found common ground with EU experts. All the time, Pristina has been refusing to discuss the draft statute, and to thwart the discussions and an agreement on the final statute, Kurti made the unilateral decision to ban the dinar in December," Petkovic said.

He noted that the establishment of the Community - a precondition for the survival of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija - was overdue for 11 years now due to Pristina's refusal to meet its commitments from the dialogue.

Petkovic also said Belgrade would continue to fight to keep Pristina out of the Council of Europe but that it would keep approaching the dialogue with Pristina in a responsible and constructive way.