Petkovic: Laws passed by Serbia as a form of support for Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija have nothing to do with dialogue obligations

Petar Petkovic, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, issued a statement today asserting that the laws passed by Serbia to support Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija have nothing to do with the obligations from the dialogue.

As Petkovic stated, these laws are a direct response to the oppression of the Serbian population by the Pristina regime and the lack of visible actions by the EU’s EULEX mission to protect Serbs, ensure the rule of law, and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo and Metohija caused by Albin Kurti’s unilateral moves and violence against Serbs.

He then urged the European Union to answer specific questions instead of having a double standard policy, listing 12 questions:

1. Is Pristina’s illegal and unilateral removal of the Serbian dinar and its creation of a humanitarian crisis a violation of the dialogue?

2. How is the forcible closure of 10 Serbian municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija not a violation of the agreement?

3. Is it best European practice that, due to institutional closures, Serbs cannot register their newborn babies?

4. Is it in line with the rule of law and the dialogue that no one has been held accountable for the shootings of seven Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, including two children?

5. Is it in line with the dialogue that Azem Kurtaj, a KSF member who shot Serbian children on Christmas Eve, remains a free man?

6. Is it a violation of the agreement to forcibly close the "Postal Savings" Bank and the Serbian Post Office in northern Kosovo and Metohija?

7. Are European values that the most vulnerable Serbs, retirees, and the disabled have to go to administrative borders for their payments because Kurti has cut off all other options?

8. Is the arrest and unlawful detention of 86 Serbs, who languish in prisons, consistent with dialogue principles?

9. Is it a violation of the dialogue to prevent Belgrade’s liaison officer from visiting unlawfully detained Serbs and verifying their health status?

10. Is it a breach of dialogue to bar Patriarch Porfirije from visiting the Patriarchate of Pec?

11. How is the presence of Kurti’s mono-ethnic police, which has no place in northern Kosovo and Metohija and carries out a daily terror, not a violation of the agreement?

12. Is the widespread, unpunished sexual harassment and intimidation of Serbian women in northern Kosovo and Metohija an example of the rule of law?

In the statement of the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, it is further noted that “since Kurti took office, there have been 555 ethnically motivated incidents and 127 escalatory actions by the Pristina regime.”

"Since the June 3, 2023, calls by 27 EU countries for Pristina to urgently de-escalate the situation in Kosovo, almost 20% of Serbs have left northern Kosovo due to Albin Kurti's terror and the intolerable living conditions created by the Pristina regime. That is why a session of the UN Security Council was held as well. If there were any real rule of law in Kosovo and Metohija, if Serbs had any legal security, if the EULEX mission fulfilled its mandated duties, if anyone had been held accountable for the shootings, arrests, and beatings of Serbs, there would be no need for the law passed by the competent authorities in Belgrade. Additionally, due to Pristina's bans, closures, and restrictions, Serbs are facing a humanitarian catastrophe, their survival is at risk, and due to the terror, they are forced to leave their ancestral homes. Therefore, the law on social assistance and support is necessary for them," Petkovic emphasized.

The director further stated that Belgrade, led by President Aleksandar Vucic, had repeatedly declared publicly that Serbia would not sit idly by while Kurti persecuted and mistreated Serbs, seeking to deprive them of all benefits and protection.

“We cannot and will not allow further persecution and the deprivation of our people's rights. Finally, one last question for EU representatives. How did you first support and welcome the measures that Belgrade publicly and officially introduced back in September, only to abruptly change your position after Kurti’s attack on these laws yesterday? Is this credibility?” Petkovic asked.