Petkovic with Sorensen: Pristina’s discriminatory regulations endanger more than 10,000 Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, met today with the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade–Pristina Dialogue, Peter Sorensen, and pointed out the scale of the consequences that could affect the Serbian people if Pristina begins implementing the laws on foreigners and motor vehicles on March 15.

Petkovic stressed that these, as he said, discriminatory regulations directly endanger more than 10,000 Serbs who live and work in Kosovo, threatening fundamental human and civil rights, the right to work, the right to freedom of movement, the right to family life, health care, and education.

“Any intention to abolish these rights leads to the direct expulsion of the Serbian people from Kosovo and Metohija and to the administrative ethnic cleansing of Serbs, and represents a blow to the functioning of the health care and educational institutions of the Republic of Serbia in these areas,” the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija warned.

For this reason, Petkovic stated, it is necessary to urgently launch talks on the draft Statute of the CSM, because the First Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations and the General Principles defined the functioning of these Serbian institutions in the territory of Kosovo, and that document represents the cornerstone of the protection of the collective and individual rights of Serbs.

“Belgrade is ready to seek all sustainable and applicable solutions to problems that threaten the survival of the Serbian people within the framework of dialogue, in order to preserve peace and stability, while unilateral, unlawful, and escalatory moves by Pristina lead to instability, new crises, and tensions on the ground,” Petkovic concluded.