Petkovic meets with German foreign ministry official

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met with the head of the Western Balkans Division of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Niels Von Redecker in Belgrade on Thursday.

Petkovic informed the German official of the political situation in Kosovo-Metohija and problems faced by the Serbs due to political and all other forms of disenfranchisement and constant attempts to subjugate them to Pristina's will by violent and non-democratic means, the Office for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement.

He noted that Albin Kurti's terror put the survival of Serbs into question, especially in the north of Kosovo-Metohija.

He said this was also indicated by recent events during which ethnic Albanian municipal representatives in Kosovska Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zubin Potok and Zvecan had refused to receive a civic initiative for the dismissal of false and illegitimate mayors in the north of Kosovo-Metohija - which the EU, too, insists on.

Forcing petitioners to show their IDs to Pristina's police was aimed at intimidation, which clearly shows that Kurti's regime is not even thinking about de-escalating the situation in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, Petkovic said.

These and other frequent unilateral moves by Pristina, such as groundless and illegitimate arrests and daily violence against the Serbs, generate fresh tensions in the province, which is something Belgrade does not want by any means, he said.

He noted that a soonest possible de-escalation on the ground was necessary and that a Community of Serb Municipalities must be established as urgently as possible based on agreements from 2013 and 2015 to ensure collective and individual rights to Serbs in the province.