Petkovic: Last obstacle to implementing declaration on missing persons removed

BRUSSELS - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said the last obstacle to implementing a declaration on missing persons had been removed in a new round of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue at chief negotiators level in Brussels on Tuesday.

"We have a declaration, we have a rulebook and we have now agreed on a joint commission to support the working group chaired, as in the past, by the International Committee of the Red Cross. That is what is important and significant to us and what Belgrade has insisted on all the time. There would have been no agreement without efforts on our part," Petkovic said.

He noted that Belgrade had insisted all the time that it did not see the issue of missing persons as a political issue, but as a purely humanitarian issue that must be solved.

Petkovic, who is also Belgrade's chief negotiator in the EU-facilitated dialogue, said this might have been Miroslav Lajcak's last round of the dialogue in the capacity as the EU special envoy.

He noted that establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities and deescalation were important issues for Kosovo-Metohija Serbs as well as for Belgrade.

"We spoke about that strongly and persistently and insisted on it at the bilateral meeting as well, and I also did the same in a direct encounter with Mr (Pristina's chief negotiator Besnik) Bislimi, whom I asked five times in succession whether Pristina supports the European draft statute (of the Community), because it is necessary that we agree on the statute as a concrete step towards establishing a Community of Serb Municipalities, much-needed by Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, because, without it, there is no survival for Kosovo-Metohija Serbs," Petkovic told reporters in Brussels.

Speaking about deescalation, Petkovic said Belgrade had noted that Pristina's PM Albin Kurti must stop persecuting Serbs, especially in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, and that the terror of the so-called Kosovo Police, which he noted was unlawfully present in the north of the province, must end.

Petkovic also said he had pointed out that the Kurti regime was doing everything in its power to suppress Srpska lista - a political party of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs - designate it as a terrorist organisation and stop it from running in the upcoming elections in the province.

Tuesday's round of the dialogue concluded in the afternoon with a trilateral meeting of Petkovic, Lajcak and Bislimi.

Earlier, Lajcak held a bilateral meeting with Belgrade's expert delegation headed by Petkovic and then also met with Pristina's delegation.