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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Package of measures to protect rights of Serbs, vital state, national interests in Kosovo and Metohija adopted

Belgrade, 15 April 2023

Members of the government of the Republic of Serbia at today's meeting adopted a package of measures that was agreed upon at the meeting of President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic with the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija held on 13 April in Raska.

Due to its commitment to a better life of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, it was important for the government of Serbia to adopt these measures as soon as possible, so the session was scheduled at such a short notice.

A package of measures to protect the rights of Serbs and other non-Albanian population and vital state and national interests in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija

1. The Republic of Serbia demands an immediate response from the international community so that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina (hereinafter: PIS in Pristina) immediately end the violation of the agreement on licence plates and allow complete and unhindered freedom of movement for the Serbs whose vehicles use legal and legitimate licence plates of the Republic of Serbia. In order to protect this inalienable human right of the Serbs and other non-Albanian population, it is necessary that the PIS in Pristina act without delay in accordance with all agreements from the Dialogue, but also with all other relevant international legal documents. In this sense, the Serbian negotiating team is authorised, in accordance with the rights guaranteed to the Serbian side by the previous licence plate agreements, to make an additional effort to find a compromise solution on this issue. In the event that the PIS in Pristina reject a compromise solution and continue to prevent the freedom of movement of Serbs and other citizens who use legal and legitimate licence plates of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija (hereinafter: Kosovo and Metohija), the competent authorities of the Republic of Serbia will respond with strong and adequate political measures in the protection of the constitutional order. In that case, state authorities will take targeted arbitrary measures against vehicles with licence plates issued by PIS in Pristina.

2. The unconditional and urgent formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija is an absolute prerequisite for all further steps in the Dialogue, as well as a prerequisite for the return of the Serbs to provincial institutions and their further political activity in the Province. The PIS in Pristina are obliged to ensure that the Community of Serb Municipalities is formed exclusively in accordance with the four agreements reached in the Dialogue so far on this matter. This means that the Community of Serb Municipalities must have all the legal and other guarantees prescribed by the First Agreement and the Implementation Plan and the Agreement on the scope and mandate of the Management Team for the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities from 2013, as well as all the elements that define in detail its special legal position, goals, structure, authorities, jurisdictions, funding sources and all other factors that are precisely defined by the General Principles from 2015.

3. The Albanian police forces of the PIS in Pristina are illegally located in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, where they brutally terrorise the peaceful Serbs who live there. Representatives of the competent international civil and security missions in Kosovo and Metohija are well aware of this, as well as of the fact that the PIS in Pristina, through the presence of these forces, violate the provisions of the First Agreement that regulate the issue of police presence in the north of Kosovo and Metohija. That is why the government of the Republic of Serbia asks the aforementioned international missions, in accordance with the obligations prescribed by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, to urgently take measures to protect the lives and rights of Serbs and ensure the withdrawal of the Albanian police forces of the PIS in Pristina.

4. The government of the Republic of Serbia strongly condemns the undemocratic attempt of the PIS in Pristina to hold elections for local administration in four majority-Serb municipalities in the north of Kosovo and Metohija. The government of the Republic of Serbia believes that such elections do not make any sense, because the PIS in Pristina is trying to create a situation in which 2% of the Albanian population in the north of Kosovo and Metohija will govern and decide over the 98% of Serbs who live there. This move fully exposed the anti-democratic character of the PIS in Pristina, as well as the political ambition of its leader Albin Kurti to become the de facto mayor of Zubin Potok, Leposavic, Zvecan and northern Kosovska Mitrovica with less than 2% of the vote. The government of the Republic of Serbia supports the decision of the legitimate political representatives of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and the entire Serbian people not to participate in that undemocratic and illegitimate process, as well as their determination to return to the political life of the PIS in Pristina only once the well-known conditions for establishing the Community of Serb Municipalities are fulfilled, enabling the freedom of movement of Serbs in accordance with the agreed agreements on licence plates and the withdrawal of illegally deployed Albanian police forces from the north of Kosovo and Metohija.

5. 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 population in Kosovo and Metohija. 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.

The provisions of this package of measures from items 1 to 5 are binding for all state administration bodies, special organisations, government offices, all officials, as well as negotiators from the Serbian side in the Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.