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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Negotiating team demands formation of Serbian entity in Kosovo-Metohija

Vienna, 27 February 2007

Coordinator of the Serbian state team for talks on Kosovo-Metohija's future status Leon Kojen stated tonight that in the course of today's talks in Vienna, Belgrade demanded that a Serbian entity be formed in Kosovo-Metohija which would by way of a council, as a supreme body, unite the Serbs living in the province and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Leon Kojen

Author: Fonet

In a statement to the press following today's talks which focused on decentralisation, Kojen recalled that this is the demand Belgrade had put forth at the very beginning of Vienna talks, adding that the formation of a Serbian entity in Kosovo-Metohija is necessary because a year of unsuccessful negotiations is behind us.

"Serbs must have a centre of some kind in order to jointly represent their interests and, in a cultural and political sense, get under the same roof with the Serbian Orthodox Church, and that roof is the Serbian entity", explained Kojen.

He told the press that Belgrade's reasonable and benevolent proposal was dismissed by Pristina representatives who gave ridiculous counter-accusations that the entity would mean a division of Kosovo and the introduction of a third level of governing in the province.

According to Kojen, the second sensitive moment during today's talks came about at the end of the session when Belgrade proposed 14 Serbian municipalities in the province, 9 of which would be new.

The team's coordinator Slobodan Samardzic said that Belgrade emphasised the demand for direct assistance of authorities in Serbia to municipalities with a Serb majority.

Without Belgrade's direct assistance, which would not be conditioned by the policy in Pristina, the Serb community in Kosovo-Metohija and new Serbian municipalities could not survive, warned Samardzic.

He said the ethnic Albanian side rejected this as well and referring to their right to check all activities regarding assistance in the health, education and other sectors.

The second bone of contention was the possibility that other non-ethnic Albanian communities form new municipalities as well, said Samardzic and added that the Pristina delegation did not consent to this either, which only showed how much they actually fear a multiethnic Kosovo-Metohija.

The talks between Belgrade and Pristina will continue tomorrow at Vienna's Austria Centre and the next session will look at the part of Ahtisaari's proposal referring to the protection of cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo-Metohija.