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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement on establishment of Community of Serbian Municipalities reached

Belgrade/Brussels, 25 August 2015

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic announced tonight that four agreements have been signed between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels, and these are on the Community of Serbian Municipalities, energy, telecommunications and freedom of movement across the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Author: rts.rs

Vucic told Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) that his message for our people in Kosovo-Metohija is that the agreements signed are good, since they guarantee not only the safety and security, but also that the jobs for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija will be kept.

The Prime Minister underlined that the Community of Serbian Municipalities is being established tonight which will have broad powers.

According to Vucic, the Community will have a president and vice president, assembly, council, coat of arms, flag, and will decide on health care, education, urban and rural planning and economic development.

The Prime Minister stressed that it is extremely important that it will be possible to finance the Community of Serbian Municipalities from Serbia without taxes and duties, pointing out that it was unequivocally stated that Serbia has a right to that.

I think we have done a great job for our people, and all agreements will be presented to the public, he announced and added that he will visit all ten municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija covered by the Community of Serbian Municipalities to present what has been achieved in Brussels.

Vucic explained that today's negotiations were held with representatives of the European Union and that the Serbian delegation met with the delegation from Pristina only at the end of the day.

The agreement on telecommunications was reached first and this is the first time since 1999 that Serbia has managed to legalise its position.

According to Vucic, Kosovo Serbs will continue to dial only dialling numbers for cities in Serbia, such as 011, 018, 034, while citizens from central Serbia when calling Kosovska Mitrovica will dial only 028.

With this agreement Telekom Srbija is recognised, while the Electric Power Industry of Serbia will have a daughter company in Kosovo-Metohija, the Prime Minister explained.

Speaking about energy, he pointed out that the Serbian side did not agree to attempts by Pristina to appropriate the assets of Serbia, which belong to Serbia in line with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.

It is precisely because of such aspirations of Pristina that the negotiations on energy were the most difficult and some issues in this field have remained unresolved, Vucic noted and added that no agreement was reached on the distribution system operator, which is however specified in the agreement.

Speaking about the freedom of movement across the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica, the Prime Minister explained that Pristina wanted to open the Kralja Petra Street for traffic, but that it will remain a pedestrian zone.

He explained that by decisions signed today, the Kralja Petra Street will be a pedestrian zone built by Serbia, for which security is provided, and no cars or trucks will enter there, as Pristina wanted.

The Prime Minister stated that Serbia will do everything to implement the agreements signed, noting that the agreement reached in Brussels means a lot for entire Serbia since it leads to the opening of negotiating chapters with the EU.

I think that we have achieved more and better than we expected. In any case I am not dissatisfied with what we have achieved and I will go to Kosovo-Metohija in September with joy, he reiterated and congratulated the Serbs from the southern province on the establishment of the Community of Serbian Municipalities.