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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Necessity of institutionally protecting Serbian people with formation of Community of Serb Municipalities

Belgrade, 12 March 2024

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic met today with Director of the Department for Continental Europe of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Brice Roquefeuil, whom he informed about the threat to the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija, especially after the latest violent decisions of Pristina on the abolition of the dinar and the ban on the payment of salaries, pensions, social benefits and material costs of schools, hospitals, kindergartens and other Serbian institutions in the province.

Petkovic particularly emphasised the necessity for the Serbian people to be institutionally protected by the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which Pristina has persistently refused to form for 11 years.

According to him, unlike Belgrade, which fulfilled all the agreements resulting from the Brussels Agreement, Pristina is constantly trying to remove its biggest and most important obligation, the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, from the agenda forever.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija emphasised that the recent decision of Pristina to abolish the use of the dinar in the province and the payment transaction was premeditated and that the ultimate goal of that decision is the final expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, the abolition of the institutions of the Republic of Serbia in the province and putting an end to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Petkovic pointed out that for the 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian financial transactions and payments are a matter of their physical survival, because pensions, social benefits and all other entitlements paid to them by the state of Serbia are paid through a Serbian bank.

In this regard, the intention of the Kosovo authorities to abolish the dinar together with Postal Savings Bank, which has been operating in the north of Kosovo and Metohija since 2018, is of particular concern.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija informed Roquefeuil that Postal Savings Bank, in order to enable payments to the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and provide other banking services, temporarily located in central Serbia, in the immediate vicinity of the administrative crossings of Jarinje, Brnjak, Konculj and Merdare, four makeshift branches.

Petkovic emphasised that Belgrade will continue to insist on finding a permanent and sustainable solution to this and all other problems, which will enable the survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, which is questioned daily by the Pristina authorities.

The fact that the rule of law does not exist for Serbs in the province is also shown by the recent acquittal of members of the so-called Kosovo Security Forces, who shot Serbian children last year on Christmas Day, Petkovic said, adding that since Albin Kurti came to power, 484 ethnically motivated attacks have been committed against members of the Serbian people in the province.

He added that Pristina, blinded by hatred towards everything Serbian, does not even respect the decisions of its own court and refuses to return the confiscated land to the Visoki Decani monastery.

Petkovic concluded that Belgrade, despite all the shenanigans and dangerous, violent and unilateral moves of Pristina, remains committed to dialogue, as well as that it expects that, through compromise, conditions will be created for permanent stability and prosperity in Kosovo and Metohija and in the entire region, the announcement of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said.