Govt will do everything to return displaced Serbs to Kosovo

GRACANICA - The Serbian government will do everything in coordination with the EU and other international partners to enable the return of the Serbs who were forced out of their homes in Kosovo, but also to ensure that those living in Kosovo enjoy the maximum economic, political and human rights, head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo Marko Djuric has said.

Djuric visited Kosovo on Monday, for the first time since becoming the head of the office for Kosovo.

He visited Gracanica, near Pristina, and met with local officials and residents and later with Bishop of Raska and Prizren Teodosije at the Gracanica monastery.

It is impossible to achieve any national goals in Kosovo without involvement from the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has been one of the pillars of the Serbs' existence and future survival in Kosovo, Djuric told reporters.

The Serbian authorities have some doubts about the Serbs voting in the parliamentary election in Kosovo on June 8 because of the actions of Pristina and the Kosovo Central Election Commission, he noted.

Contrary to the Brussels agreement, which says that all the agreements made as part of the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina are neutral in terms of Kosovo's status, the ballots for the parliamentary poll in Kosovo were printed containing the symbols of the Republic of Kosovo, which was declared unilaterally by the Kosovo Albanians and is not recognised by Serbia.

Besides that, the Central Election Commission has decided that there will be no Serb representatives in the polling station committees south of the Ibar river.

The United Serbian List therefore stopped its election campaign on the first day and demanded that the symbols...