President, K. Serbs discuss platform behind closed doors

Source: B92, Beta, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Kosovo Serb representatives conferred on a draft platform on Kosovo with President Tomislav Nikolić behind closed doors on Friday.

(Beta)

The talks were scheduled to begin at 14:00 CET.
Dečani Municipal Coordinator Snežana Paunović told reporters that Kosovo Serbs believed in the draft platform and trusted the Serbian government.

However, she stressed that Kosovo Serbs would voice their opinions in their local institutions.

According to her, they will have another meeting with Nikolić after the local institutions have held debates on the platform.

Representatives of all 28 Kosovo municipalities and Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin attended the meeting.

Beta news agency reported earlier today that a delegation of around 30 members would come to the meeting.

The Serbian president presented the draft platform for Kosovo to leaders of opposition parties on Thursday.

In the document, the Serbian authorities demand a high level of territorial and political autonomy for the Serb municipalities, "modeled after Catalonia", and they also want autonomy to be guaranteed by the province’s highest legal bills and that the international community officials, who are taking part in the negotiations, stand behind it.

Kosovo Serbs on platform

Mayors of some Kosovo towns said on Thursday that they expected the platform “to treat state and interests of Kosovo Serbs in the right way”.

Peć Mayor Miloš Dimitrijević said that it was in Serbs best interest to stay in Kosovo and that he therefore expected the platform to adequately view the position of Serbs in the entire province.

“I believe it is written in such manner,” he told Tanjug, while Obilić Mayor Goran Dančetović said he hoped the platform would guarantee that Serbs would remain in Kosovo.

He told Tanjug that he had received an invitation to a meeting with the president and that he expected to see how the document would treat the Serbs south of the Ibar River and Serbian institutions in that part of the province.

“Survival of the Serbian community living in the province largely depends of the survival of the Serbian institutions in Kosovo and Metohija,” Dančetović underscored.

Štrpce Mayor Zvonko Mihajlović believes that Kosovo Serbs should have been involved in the work on the platform from the beginning.

“They understand the problems the best and this way Kosovo Serbs have a fait accompli and I am afraid that the platform would remain a ‘dead letter’ like previous resolutions and declarations,” he noted.