Committee Chairman MA Milovan Drecun said that the adopted Conclusion would be forwarded to the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office.

The Committee then proceeded to discuss the Progress Report on the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina presented to the Committee members by the Director of the Office for Kosovo-Metohija Marko Djuric. He presented the semi-annual Report which, he said, contained all of the Serbian side’s arguments which confirm that the Republic of Serbia had honoured all of the obligations set out in the Brussels Agreement.

The chief problem in the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, according to Djuric, lies in the fact that Pristina is not following the agreed dynamics of the talks, and the establishment of a Community of Serbian municipalities, judiciary, telecommunication and energy. Property issues i.e. cadastre records, currently halted because of the Bill on Verification, proposed by Pristina and considered unacceptable by Belgrade, remain a problem.

Djuric said that the opening of two new crossings on the road from Banjska to Novi Pazar and on the territory of the Municipality of Medvedja, had enabled the integrated management of the administrative crossings.

Committee member Borislav Stefanovic said that having the Office for Kosovo-Metohija report to the Committee is good practice, opining that the Report itself is comprehensive and useful for Serbia’s foreign policy. He asked for additional information on the draft statute of the Community of Serbian municipalities, and the Director of the Office for Kosovo-Metohija accepted the initiative that the statute drafts be presented before the MPs i.e. Committee members at one of the next sittings of the Committee on Kosovo-Metohija.

In the conclusion to the Report, Djuric said that the Republic of Serbia confirms its dedication to the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, believing in a common future of the entire region and consistently implementing all the agreements and obligations stemming from the process of technical and political dialogue. He hopes that the EU would be a true partner to Serbia, one that understands the Serbian people’s need to secure the minimum of conditions for sustainable development, return and survival in Kosovo-Metohija within a political, security, institutional and social framework that could guarantee that.

The Committee members unanimously accepted the Progress Report on the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman MA Milovan Drecun.