Talks about the ‘Park of Peace” and flower pots at the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica will continue in Brussels in September, stated Head of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Đurić.
Đurić said to B92 that contrary to Edita Tahiri’s claims with regard to ‘Park of Peace’, everything will remains as it is until September.
“The bridge is important because it prevents anyone from speeding up with a vehicle toward the main street in Northern Mitrovica. That’s why it is important for the people that there are no further decisions without their agreement,” said Đurić.
Đurić reflected on successes and failures of the government in Kosovo in first 100 days, and stressed that nothing can be viewed out of the context of continuity starting from 2012 onwards.
“That’s’ when a U-turn took place with regard to policy toward the province, when the proactive stance was taken. In these six to eight months everything took place what was theoretically possible to happen, and for the first time after 1999 it is not possible to create the provincial government in Pristina without talks with the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija. The very fact that a Serb women has presided over the parliament’s session is also an encouraging message,” said Đurić.
He went on to say that government however still can’t be satisfied with the general state of affairs in Kosovo and Metohija, first of all due to unemployment, which goes up to 60 per cent in Serbian settlements. “One of the tasks will have to do with economic problems in the province, since they’ve been too long in the shadow of political problems,” said Đurić.
Reflecting on the recent visit to Pristina, the stroll he took through the town and the lunch he had at the local restaurant Đurić said that his task is to show that it is about something normal and that it should be a consisting element of the normalization of relations.
“Before, the fear was a dominant feeling, whereas I won’t to show now that it is normal, as it is normal that an Albanian from Pristina visits any part of Serbia. We can disagree about the status of the province for next 200 years, however that doesn’t mean that we have to hate each other. Like it or not, we have to turn our economic inter-relations into a chance, too,” said Đurić.
