Committee Chairperson MA Danijela Nikolic briefed the French parliamentarians on the Committee's scope of work, and then in detail on the current situation in Kosovo-Metohija, the position of the Serbian people, and the terror of the Albin Kurti regime in the past four years. She pointed out that since 2021, 654 unprocessed ethnically motivated attacks on Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church have been recorded, of which 33 were on children and 107 on churches and religious buildings.

"The bottom line is that in Kosovo-Metohija we are exposed to physical and structural violence and ethnically motivated attacks. Albin Kurti wants to change the ethnic structure in Kosovo-Metohija, ignores international demands for de-escalation of the crisis and persistently refuses to implement the provisions of the Brussels Agreement and form the Community of Serb Municipalities. Serbs in the 21st century, in the heart of Europe, live in a ghetto, all our human rights and civil liberties are threatened and we are a people living behind a wire," Nikolic said.

She informed the guests about the pressures that Serbs face and have faced, such as the ban on the trade of goods from central Serbia, the use of the dinar, illegal expropriation, violent destruction of Serbian property and the closure of Serbian institutions, violation of zones around Serbian Orthodox Church buildings, economic suppression of Serbian companies, legalisation of raids on Serbian educational and health institutions, forced eviction of Serbs from their apartments, as well as sexual harassment of women in the north of our province, all of which results in additional emigration of Serbs and sends the message that there is no place for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija.

Nikolic stressed that despite the facts presented, Belgrade still insists on continuing the dialogue, respecting the provisions of the Brussels Agreement and establishing the Community of Serb Municipalities, whose guarantor is the EU, and expressed her expectation that the EU has the political will to implement on the ground what was agreed upon in the agreement. She also thanked France for the support it provided to the Republic of Serbia by making the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities conditional and implementing Pristina's international obligations for the admission of so-called Kosovo to the Council of Europe.

Committee Deputy Chairman Aleksandar Pavic stressed that the current situation in Kosovo-Metohija is a consequence of the policy of NATO countries. He stressed that a culture of impunity has developed among Albanians, because Serbia is viewed in a geopolitical way. Therefore, Serbian public opinion is turning away from the EU, especially considering the terror to which the Serbian people in Kosovo-Metohija are exposed with the support of the EU. He added that Serbia will never accept an independent Kosovo and opined that Kosovo-Metohija is today an open-air concentration camp.

Committee member Goran Rakic informed the French MPs about the reasons for the exodus of Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija, the attacks and terror they suffer, stressing that every attack is a message to Serbs that they should emigrate. He added that ethnically motivated attacks on Serbs should not be viewed as statistical data, that number will decrease, because there will simply be no more Serbs. He highlighted the role played by the French KFOR contingent, because where they were, the Serbs were better protected during that period.

Responding to questions from French MPs, the Committee Chairperson stated that Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija are losing trust in the only legal security forces established by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, namely KFOR and the international community, especially after the March Pogrom of 2004, when Albanians showed that nothing is sacred to them and that a people should disappear from their centuries-old homes.

"On Vidovdan (Saint Vitus Day) this year, Serbs were forbidden from flying the Serbian flag, because it offends the feelings of the Albanian people. But they did not ask themselves whether Serbs are offended by the carrying of the flag bearing the inscription KLA and whether it reminds every Serb of crimes, rapes, murders, organ trafficking, the Yellow House," Nikolic said.

She added that, speaking as a politician and someone who was born and lives in Kosovo-Metohija, the Republic of Serbia respects international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of internationally recognised countries and UN members and will never recognise an independent Kosovo.

"Kosovo-Metohija cannot be independent until it is recognised by the Republic of Serbia. We are for dialogue, and the question is why Pristina is turning away from dialogue and why Europe is silent. We demand justice and respect for the UN Charter and international law from the world, and the goal of our policy is to find a compromise solution," Nikolic concluded.

She reminded the French parliamentarians that respect for international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity in relation to other UN member states in the world is also the position of the Republic of France, and asked why that position would be different for a UN member state, in this case the Republic of Serbia.

The delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of France, headed by Frederic Petit, Frederic Petty, member of the France-Serbia Friendship Group, and consisting of MPs Marine Hamelet, Pierre Pribetich and Jean-Louis Roumegas, is part of a mission within the Foreign Affairs Committee with the aim of establishing a parliamentary dimension in the dialogue process between Belgrade and Pristina.