"No true normalization while property is stolen"

Source: Tanjug

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Marko Đurić has said there can be "no true normalization of the relations between Belgrade and Priština while Serbia's property is being stolen in Kosovo."

Marko Đurić (L) (Tanjug)

Đurić serves as head of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija.
"We are going to use all the institutional mechanisms at our disposal in the coming period to exert pressure, and this includes setting conditions concerning participation in Kosovo's institutions, in order to prevent Serbia's property from being stolen in Kosovo," he said on Sunday in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Serbia wants the issue of its property in Kosovo to be one of the topics of the Brussels talks on the normalization of the relations with Priština, he told reporters in Kosovska Mitrovica, stressing that there would be no tolerance for someone using the time between the talks to pressure the Serb community and steal property.

"It is completely unacceptable to us and we wish to state clearly now that the actions of the Kosovo Privatization Agency are causing direct damage to the normalization of the relations," he noted.

He listed the seizure of a wood mill in Štrpce as an example, adding that it had disturbed the local Serbs and drawn attention to the fact that the Kosovo authorities had been taking over Serbia's companies there for weeks.

"It is particularly pronounced in the municipality of Strpce and we find it unacceptable. It pushes us a few steps back, creating a bad atmosphere, directly slowing down the normalization of relations and putting us in a very difficult position," he concluded.