Petkov: Talks burdened by Pristina's request for CoE membership

Serbia's chief negotiator, Petar Petkovovic, has said he has not met with Kosovo's chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, today, as, according to him, he has refused to discuss the Association of Serb Majorities and the issue of missing persons.

The director of the so-called Office for Kosovo in Serbia Government has said that today's talks in Brussels are burdened with the decision, which they name illegal, Pristina, to apply for membership in the Council of Europe.

“I used this moment even to strongly protest against Pristina's illegal and unilateral decision”, Petkovic told reporters after the meeting, writes Tanjug, broadcast Klankosova.tv.

That there has not been a trilateral meeting between Kosovo, Serbian chief negotiator and EU Special Representative for Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak has confirmed Besnik Bislimi as well.

He said the Serbian side has wanted topics to be included on the agenda for the Association of Serb Majorities, which he says has accepted.

“I have requested a trilateral meeting, but what it looks like when the Serb side has confronted this request, an intervention has come to Serbia. They wanted to misuse this and put a new topic on the agenda and they said it could happen if they first talked about the Association of the Serbian Communists, which of course we couldn't accept because the agenda was pre-determined”.