Petkovic: We demonstrated constructiveness, next meeting to be held May 13

BRUSSELS - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Thursday that, after seven hours of discussions in Brussels, Belgrade had demonstrated constructiveness and made proposals for resolving the issue of Pristina's ban on the Serbian dinar but that Pristina did not want a solution.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Petkovic said the next round of the dialogue would take place on May 13.

"The discussions were difficult and tense, but they were direct, which is good. Both I and the experts had an opportunity to present our proposals regarding EU ideas to resolve the dinar issue because, with that decision (to ban the dinar, Pristina's PM Albin) Kurti has put the survival of the Serbs in jeopardy. That must be resolved urgently," Petkovic said.

"We provided our latest comments on EU proposals and presented them to (EU special envoy Miroslav) Lajcak in the best of faith, and they were assessed as being that. All the time, (Pristina's chief negotiator Besnik) Bislimi was heckling, drawing parallels and kept saying he is not interested in Serbs who want to leave Kosovo-Metohija but in those who want to integrate, confirming that Kurti's policy is aimed at there being no Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija," Petkovic said.

He said he hoped to see progress on May 13 but that that did not depend on Belgrade as it was clear to everyone Pristina was the problem.