Director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric announced that representatives of Serbia at the forthcoming talks in Brussels, on February 9, would run several topics of importance to the Serbian community in the province.
“The first topics of interest, most certainly, will be the position of Serbian municipalities, the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian property in Kosovo and Metohija, justice. There must be the question of the missing whose fate, on both sides, is still unknown,” Djuric said in an interview to “Nase novine.”
The issue of property, according to him, is not the focus just because of “Trepca”, but also because of the fact that since the start of the dialogue in 2012, despite requests of all Serbian representatives, the issue was not on the table.
Djuric, anticipating the themes of the upcoming talks in Brussels, said that certainly they would not be solving the status issues.
“Our red lines are defined by our Constitution and state policies, which relate to the status of Kosovo and Metohija. In these conversations, we do not want to solve the status issue, but the practical problems of the people,” Djuric said.
He expects at the meeting that would lead to the table Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers the focus to be on the judiciary and the Community/Association of Serbian Municipalities.
“We could hear already in the public that they challenge the jurisdiction and the rights of the Community/Association of the Serbian Municipalities. Thus, there are politicians in Pristina scared of a very idea that the Serbs have some collective political rights and some community, although there is no reason for it. No one should fear in Pristina, because the ZSO is not directed against anyone, nor will be formed at the expense of anyone, but with an aim to protect the rights and position of the Serbs,” explained Djuric.
He recalled that the first so-called Brussels Agreement only to a certain extent defined the jurisdiction of the future ZSO which opened the space to discuss the details of organisation.
“It is planned to submit a draft of the statute of the ZSO to Brussels, about which the two sides will then talk. Soon the Serbian side will present the statute to Brussels, but not necessarily on February 9,” Djuric said.
