EC comments on "association of Albanian municipalities"

EC comments on "association of Albanian municipalities"

On Saturday, ethnic Albanian councilors in two municipalities of southern Serbia met and set up their association. The future community of Serb municipalities in Kosovo (ZSO), meanwhile, was agreed during the EU-sponsored Kosovo talks.

EC spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic remarked today that the ZSO was the result of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, and added:

"Serbia only has an obligation to respect the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Minorities and the European Charter on Regional and Minority languages."

Kocijancic thus responded when asked how the European Union views statements made by Albanian minority representatives that their association comprising Bujanovac and Presevo municipalities, that have an ethnic Albanian majority, was "modeled after the Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo."

Asked whether this issue was "ever mentioned during the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue" and about the European Commission's position on it, Kocijancic said it was "very well known to the community/association of municipalities with a Serb majority in Kosovo is the result of very specific negotiations in the dialogue on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina."

"When it comes to the Albanian minority in Serbia, Serbia has committed to implement the policy in relation to national minorities in accordance with the obligations of Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Ethnic Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Among other things, and we hope that it will be implemented," said the spokeswoman.