The Chairperson of the Committee on Kosovo-Metohija Danijela Nikolic and Committee member Goran Rakic met with a UK diplomatic delegation headed by First Secretary and Head of the Political Department of the UK Embassy in Belgrade, William Hopkinson.
Hopkinson said that, despite the UK and Serbia’s different positions on the status of our province, there is a "common goal, ensuring conditions for a peaceful and dignified life for all national communities" in that part of Serbian territory. He expressed interest in the Committee’s work and the views of Chairperson Nikolic on the current situation in the southern Serbian province.
The Committee Chairperson presented the Committee’s scope of work and competences, as well as worrying data that testify to the extremely difficult position of the Serbian community in Kosovo-Metohija. Statistical data on attacks on children, sexual attacks on women, as well as continuous violations of human and minority rights of Serbs, were the reason for the Chairperson’s appeal to the UK delegation to help stop terror and violence against innocent citizens and to ensure conditions for a life worthy of a human being in the 21st century.
Nikolic particularly pointed to Pristina's systematic failure to fulfil its obligations, including the fact that the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities is still lacking, despite international guarantees. She also recalled the continuous closure of institutions of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo-Metohija, which is an attempt to impose completely unilateral and politically motivated pressure on the Serbian people.
In that context, the Committee Chairperson emphasised that the Serb List is the only legitimate and real political will of the Serbian people in Kosovo-Metohija, regardless of the strong pressure and open political repression of the Albin Kurti regime, which is seeking to erase it from the political scene and impose a different electoral will on the Serbs.
"We insist on continuing the dialogue, but it has been completely sidelined by Albin Kurti, who is trying to localise the issue. Serbia remains committed to normalising relations and finding a diplomatic and peaceful solution. Therefore, I call on your country to help us, and that Pristina understand that Serbs are a people who have lived in Kosovo-Metohija for centuries, that we are not the past, but the present and the future, and good neighbours to Albanians, Gorani, Turks and Bosniaks who want peace and coexistence," Nikolic said.
Hopkinson agreed that all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, must have the right to live free from fear and violence, emphasising that the United Kingdom supports the European Union's efforts to continue the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
"Serbs are an integral part of Kosovo and the only way to have a healthy Kosovo is to have a healthy Serbian community," he said.
The diplomatic delegation presented the activities the United Kingdom is implementing in Kosovo-Metohija, including holding roundtables with civil society organisations and representatives of the Serbian community on the topics of protecting women, advancing their rights, as well as supporting agriculture and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
