Petkovic: Pristina has no intention of normalising political relations

BELGRADE - Despite constantly obstructing normalisation on the ground and escalating problems, Pristina has been rewarded with prospects of Council of Europe (CoE) membership, the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said at a meeting with French MP Bertrand Bouyx on Monday.

Pristina has no intention of taking part in creating conditions for normalisation of political and inter-ethnic relations in the region, Petkovic said at the meeting with Bouyx, who also heads the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

At the beginning of the meeting, also attended by French Ambassador to Belgrade Pierre Cochard, Petkovic noted that Pristina's unfulfilled commitment to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities under the Brussels Agreement was now 4,000 days old.

"Albin Kurti's unreasonable, unilateral decision to abolish Serbian payment transactions and the Serbian dinar as the legal tender - aimed at making life unbearable for Serbs in the province and, ultimately, expel the Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija - points to an absence of good intentions and good will in Pristina," Petkovic said.

The 100,000 Serbs in the province who are now unable to receive their incomes - salaries, pensions and social benefits - have been pushed to the brink of a humanitarian disaster, Petkovic warned.