PACE on Kosovo, Pantic Pilja: Do you support the mass exodus of the Serbs from Kosovo?

At the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held today, one of the topics discussed was the situation in northern Kosovo after the recent attack and the necessity of de-escalation. During the discussion, Serbian MP Biljana Pantic Pilja emphasized that the Serbs in Kosovo were living in dire conditions, suffering from the terror of Pristina, and that 11 percent of them had left their homes since Albin Kurti had come to power. Most of them, she says, called on Serbia to engage in dialogue, to which Serbian MPs responded with a message that Serbia was indeed in favor of dialogue.

Regarding the recent events in the village of Banjska, Pantic Pilja expressed condolences for the tragic events of September 24.

"I emphasized that on that day, an execution took place, where a Serb was shot from 12 meters away after he had dropped his weapon and surrendered, and another was shot at close range while lying on the ground. Serbia is committed to investigating the case. I asked for respect to be shown and premature conclusions not to be drawn, but to see that excessive force was used," Pantic Pilja told Kosovo Online.

She pointed out that this had happened because the international community had lied to the Serbs, promising to protect them, while the Serbs continued to be persecuted.

She added that Serbia was committed to stability and dialogue, as well as respecting international law without double standards, which meant preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of every country.

"It is not Serbia that violates, initiates, or seizes someone else's territory. The root of the problem is in Kurti's regime," she said.

She reminded that Serbia had warned Kurti, as well as the international community and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, but no one had anything done about it.

"We warned that the Serbs were living in terrible conditions in Kosovo, and during Kurti's rule, 11 percent of the Serbs had left those areas. I raised the question of whether the goal of the international community was the exodus of one nation and the expulsion of the Serbs from Kosovo," Pantic Pilja said.

She also highlighted that Serbian goods had not entered the territory of Kosovo for 30 days, especially pointing out the problem with the delivery of medicines and vaccines.

Pantic Pilja also stated that during Kurti's rule, there had been 409 attacks on the Serbs, 30 incursions by Kosovo's special police units into the north, and no one had been charged with crimes against the Serbs, especially the boys who had been wounded on Christmas.

"The international community has done nothing about reducing Kosovo's special forces in the north or about holding elections in the four municipalities in the north. We have been waiting for the CSM for 10 years, and there is no progress. We have called for its establishment once again because it is stipulated in the Brussels Agreement, but Kurti refuses to do so," she said.

She conveyed that most of those who had participated in the discussion had been Albanians and members of the Kosovo delegation, and they had not focused on the topic itself but rather on her personally and her fellow Serbian MPs.

"They claimed that we were lying, that what we were saying was not true, that the Serbian Army had entered Kosovo, and that this was a Serbian paramilitary formation that had carried out the attack on September 24, which we disproved with facts," Pantic Pilja said.

They also stated, she says, that Kosovo had been recognized by over 100 countries and that it was seeking membership in the Council of Europe, demanding that Serbia recognize Kosovo.

"I replied that none of that is true and that when discussing this topic, they should have facts," Pantic Pilja stated.

She added that she had expected more discussion about the events of September 24 and the situation of the Serbs in Kosovo, but that had not been the case.

Her impression from today's session is that the majority called on Serbia to engage in dialogue, to which Serbian MPs responded with a message that Serbia was indeed in favor of dialogue.

"It is surprising that some colleagues from Great Britain, to some extent, have shown that they are fed up with Kurti because they, too, called on him to engage in dialogue with Belgrade and mentioned the CSM. I think even international institutions are getting tired of Kurti and what he is doing," Pantic Pilja noted.

During today's session of the PACE, in addition to Pilja, MPs Elvira Kovac and Stefan Jovanovic also spoke.

The session concluded for today and will continue tomorrow.