No dialogue in Brussels: Pristina refuses to participate in direct talks, refuses to discuss ZSO

Photo: Marko Jovanovic

Pristina has refused to participate in direct talks with us in Brussels within the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, because it refused to talk about the Community of Serb Municipalities, said the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic.

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Petkovic told RTS that he met with EU envoy for dialogue Miroslav Lajcak three times, but that the meeting between the delegations of Belgrade and Pristina did not take place.

"I just finished my third meeting in a row with Mr. Lajcak, during today's long day. Pristina refused to participate in direct talks with us because it refused to talk about the ZSO. And ZSO was the topic in Brussels today, as Mr. Lajcak announced in a public statement on September 30. So, it is Pristina that refuses to talk about the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, although our side very directly insisted on its formation and presented concrete steps for that," said Petkovic.

Petkovic added that the ZSO is for us the issue of all issues and the core of the Brussels dialogue.

"If we want to talk about normalization of relations, we can do so only if the Community of Serb Municipalities is formed, and if all previously reached agreements are implemented, among other things as was the message of the EU member countries' foreign ministers," stressed Petar Petkovic.

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija added that while important issues were being discussed in Brussels, and in addition to the ZSO, according to Serbian experts, they also raised the issue of justice, energy, missing persons and freedom of movement, which also refers to official visits - from Pristina, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti Kurti was sending opposite messages.

"The messages that are directly killing the dialogue and putting all agreements reached under Pristina's feet. How then can we talk about anything in Brussels when on the same day, on the other hand, Kurti is saying the opposite about the agreement itself. We will insist on the ZSO, as we said, because that is a key issue for us," Petkovic stressed.

He added that Belgrade is committed to dialogue and that dialogue is important for Belgrade.

"It is a place where we can solve the historical problem that exists between Serbian and Albanian peoples, but in a compromise way, with a compromise solution. That is why it is important that we talk, no matter how difficult the conversations are, or there are none. As far as we are concerned, there are conversations and we want to talk. And the fact that Bislimi and the Albanian side do not want to talk is another question," said Petkovic.

He added that the Albanian side will now say that the formation of the ZSO was not on the agenda.

"But the fact that they refused the EU and Mr. Lajcak, to discuss this topic, clearly shows that it was a topic today," Petkovic said.

Asked how the dialogue will be unfolding going forward, bearing in mind that there are disagreements about the course of the talks, Petkovic said that the decision on that is up to the mediator.

"It is primarily on the mediators in the dialogue, Lajcak and the EU, but we will insist on all the important issues that I mentioned. If we want to move forward, if we want to avoid all the crises that Pristina generated by its refusal to talk and seek a solution in the dialogue, then we must save our people and Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. President Aleksandar Vucic insists on that. We need peace, we need stability, because that is the only way we can develop our country and build a better future in the economic sense for everyone in Serbia and in the region," concluded Petkovic.

(Telegraf.rs)