The rights of Serbs in Kosovo are to be protected through five different measures, which include the urgent formation of the Serbian Municipalities Association, according to a package of measures recently adopted at a meeting in Raška.
The package lists five measures to protect the rights of Serbs and other non-Albanian populations and vital state and national interests in Kosovo.
The measures call on the international community to end the “violation of the agreement on licence plates” and enable freedom of movement for Serbs. It also calls for the urgent formation of the Serbian Municipalities Association (SMA) as an absolute prerequisite for all further steps in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
These measures should be adopted as soon as possible, according to the Serbian government, which has committed to giving a better life for Serbs in Kosovo.
The government also asks international missions to “urgently take measures” to ensure the withdrawal of Albanian police forces from the north of Kosovo. The government condemns the “undemocratic attempt of the temporary institutions of self-government in Pristina to hold elections for local administration in four majority-Serb municipalities.
“The Republic of Serbia will undertake all legal political and economic measures in order to ensure the protection of life and basic human and political rights of Serbs and other non-Albanian populations in Kosovo and Metohija,” the government said in its announcement.
“It will also strengthen measures that will enable the continuation of the comprehensive social and economic progress of Serbian communities. To this end, the government of the Republic of Serbia will, through a special investment programme, accelerate the infrastructural development of those areas and increase financial support measures for the economy, farmers, young people and socially vulnerable categories,” it also said.
“The provisions of this package of measures from points one to five are binding for all state administration bodies, special organisations, government services, all officials, as well as negotiators from the Serbian side in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina,” it added.
(Bojana Zimonjić Jelisavac | EURACTIV.rs)
Source: euractiv.com
