The Association of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) is to be established in three to five months, said Marko Djuric, director of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

"The new provincial government is based on the coalition agreement, whose first article reads that the deadline for the ZSO formation is three to five months. ZSO and its formation is a condition of the government's existence. I expect that all parties in the government will actively participate in the ZSO creation because of the fact that its development is in the interest of Serbs, Albanians and all those who want stability in Kosovo-Metohija," Djuric said for Pristina weekly Jedinstvo.

Djuric said that he expects the officials of the Srpska list to be committed to the interests of representatives of the Serb people in Kosovo-Metohija. "Our people who participate in the interim institutions, or the provincial government, bear the heavy burden of solving accumulated problems, which could not be addressed for many years as they did not participate in the institutions," Djuric said.

He underlined that it is normal that the Serb representatives in provincial institutions have close consultations with the government in Belgrade.

Asked what should be done to improve and strengthen the position of the Serbian community in the province so that Serbs would not be forced to leave their homes, Djuric said that today Serbs are hostages in Kosovo-Metohija.
"For decades, they have been hostages of the wrong policy pursued with regards to Kosovo. They are hostages of grand plans of the international community, as well as the political aspirations of Kosovo Albanians. However, they are also hostages of corrupted and criminalized Kosovo Serb elite. I hope that the Serbian people in Kosovo-Metohija, with the help of the government, will be able to create a new political elite to guide them in future and serve the people," Djuric said.