Pantic Pilja; Belgrade to present arguments against Pristina's request for CoE special guest status

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Biljana Pantic Pilja said on Wednesday a request by Pristina to be given special guest status in the CoE had been included in the agenda of next week's PACE Political Committee session in Paris but that the Serbian delegation was prepared to present arguments to explain why the request should not be granted.

"It is not a repeated request, it is a request for special guest status they made as early as in November. It was not included in the agenda in December and January - we made sure it does not happen - but they have now included it in the agenda. We will see how the session will go, there will definitely be no vote but an exchange of opinions," Pantic Pilja told Tanjug.

She noted that granting the status would be a kind of reward to the Albin Kurti regime, and Pristina should not be rewarded in that way, she said.

Only states can be given special guest status, and the so-called Kosovo is not a state, which Serbia has been saying clearly, she said.

Since the request has been submitted by the last speaker of the so-called Kosovo's assembly, the Serbian delegation has written to all members of the Political Committee to urge them to wait and see who his successor would be and what positions he would take, Pantic Pilja said.

Asked about the sentiment on this matter among CoE member states, Pantic Pilja said the issue of CoE membership for the so-called Kosovo would cause unnecessary divisions within the organisation, which she noted was already divided on other issues.