Calls for strengthening of Serbian institutions in north
Participants in the Assembly of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija rejected the so-called integration plan for northern Kosovo
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, February 08, 2010
The plan was announced by the ICO and the Kosovo Albanian government in Pristina, and aims to bring the northern, Serb areas under control.
The assembly demanded that the state organs make sure that Serbian institutions in the province are further strengthened, "and in this way demonstrate to NATO, KFOR and EULEX that they (the institutions) are not parallel".
SPC Bishop Artemije, who attended the gathering, said that Serbs in Kosovo expect authorities in Belgrade to strengthen their institutions in Kosovo, "instead of weakening them like before".
He also said that "if there are divisions between Serbs in Kosovo, they came as the result of the policy of official Belgrade".
"They are driving wedges between us, because every party in Serbia, whether in government or in opposition, wants to have a stronghold in Kosovo and Metohija, not in order to help us, but rather to manipulate us," said the bishop.
The meeting was attended by some 200 Serb representatives.
"The Assembly of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija is categorically rejecting the anti-Serb plan of Pieter Feith and Hashim Thaci about the so-called integration of the northern part of Kosovo and Metohija, and expects authorities in Belgrade to truly, and not merely rhetorically, defend Serb national interests in the southern Serb province," one of the conclusions of the gathering read.
