Petkovic and Sørensen discuss Pristina’s escalatory moves against Serbs in Kosovo

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, met today in Belgrade with the EU Special Envoy for the Dialogue, Peter Sørensen, to whom he expressed deep concern over a series of escalatory actions recently undertaken by Pristina, particularly in the north of Kosovo, aimed at seriously undermining peace and stability, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced.

As stated, Petkovic stressed that Pristina, acting outside the framework of dialogue and negotiations in Brussels, has been carrying out unilateral and coercive actions that make life unbearable for the Serbian people in Kosovo, while these uncoordinated moves have met with no clear response from the European Union and Brussels. As examples, he cited the opening of the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica, numerous arbitrary arrests of Serbs, the renaming of streets in northern Kosovo, and the removal of murals dedicated to prominent Serbs.

“Kurti is systematically implementing institutional and physical terror against the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, attempting to change the reality on the ground while deliberately avoiding the implementation of agreements already reached and signed. None of this would have happened if, today—twelve years after the signing of the First Brussels Agreement on normalization of relations—we had the Community of Serb Municipalities established. Its implementation was guaranteed by the European Union, which therefore bears part of the responsibility for the situation on the ground,” Petkovic underlined.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija conveyed to his interlocutor that Belgrade has always been ready to resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful means and within the dialogue, but that both Belgrade and the Serbian people in Kosovo expect clear support and protection from international partners and the European Union, as well as condemnation of Kurti’s actions against the Serbs.