Petkovic: The Council of Europe must not fall for Kurti's deception

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, stated that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, with the support of certain mentors, is attempting a major deception. In an effort to mislead the Council of Europe, a last-minute letter was sent just before the start of the Council's Committee of Ministers meeting. The letter claims that by the end of the month, Kosovo will allegedly fulfill its obligation and send the draft statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) to the Constitutional Court.

Petkovic emphasized that the Council of Europe must not fall for this deception, as everything Kurti is currently doing is unrelated to dialogue but instead consists of unilateral and violent actions against the Serbian people in Kosovo.

"The letter further states that the statute is being drafted by Kurti, in coordination with loyal Serbs from Kosovo, based on a document created by the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation," Petkovic's statement noted.

Petkovic said that this is a clear forgery, through which Kurti aims to evade his dialogue obligations, explaining it in seven points:

"First, according to the agreements reached in Brussels, the final statute is to be agreed upon and adopted in high-level dialogue, so it cannot be a unilateral act by Pristina! Second, according to the agreements, the draft statute of the CSM is the responsibility of the Management Team, which presented its draft on May 2, 2023, in high-level dialogue in Brussels. Third, the Management Team consists of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, who officially represent the interests of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, and have been closely coordinating for months on the draft statute," Petkovic said.

As further evidence of the forgery, Petkovic pointed out that on October 21, 2023, the Quint (the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Italy) along with Miroslav Lajcak, presented the draft statute of the CSM, created by the EU, to Belgrade.

"Belgrade expressed readiness to work on this document as a good starting point for drafting the final statute. We clearly conveyed our positive stance towards this document, emphasizing respect for the agreements from 2013 and 2015, without delving into issues of a status-related nature," Petkovic stated.

He added that Kurti publicly rejected the EU's draft statute and said he did not want to discuss it.

"Sixth, it is impossible for non-governmental organizations to write the statute of the CSM, let alone present such a document as an official proposal. Seventh, no small group gathered around illegitimate Albanian mayors can be legitimate representatives of the Serbian people with whom Kurti would discuss the statute, especially considering that these individuals won 3.5 percent of Albanian votes in the north, while the Serbian people boycotted those elections," Petkovic concluded.