Petkovic: Provisions cited by the European Commission Spokesperson do not exist in the Agreement

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, stated that the alleged provisions cited by the European Commission spokesperson in connection with the arrest of a former KLA member in Serbia do not exist in the 2015 Justice Agreement, nor in the 2016 Conclusions of the EU Facilitator on Justice. As Petkovic told Kosovo Online, the situation has moved from a phase of non-implementation of agreements to a phase of inventing them.

“As the chief negotiator for Belgrade in the technical-level dialogue conducted in Brussels, I can confirm that the alleged provisions of the agreement to which the European Commission spokesperson refers do not exist anywhere in the aforementioned documents. In 2015, the Justice Agreement was reached, and in 2016 the Conclusions of the EU Facilitator on Justice were adopted. None of these texts mention the provisions cited by the European Commission spokesperson,” Petkovic emphasized.

He assessed that it appears the process has shifted from non-compliance with agreements to their outright fabrication.

“The real question is why the European Commission spokesperson has never spoken out when Kurti arrests Serbs,” Petkovic asked.

Earlier today, a spokesperson for the European Commission assessed that the arrest of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Mit'hat Lozhani in Serbia constitutes “another violation of Serbia’s obligations” under the 2015 Dialogue and Justice Agreement, Radio Free Europe reported in Albanian.

“Under this agreement, Serbia committed not to initiate criminal investigations or prosecutions for crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo, unless requested by the Kosovo authorities. Jurisdiction over allegations of war crimes and other serious criminal offenses lies with Kosovo institutions. We call on Serbia to respect its obligations,” the European Commission spokesperson said.