The Belgian Ambassador thanked the members of the National Assembly delegation to PACE, saying that the aim of her visit is the candidacy of Didier Reynders for Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Buggenhout said that the Belgian candidate will be a great champion of the rule of law and that she is certain if he is elected would be neutral and perform is duty with due diligence.

The Head of the National Assembly delegation Biljana Pantic Pilja said that the PACE’s stance on Kosovo-Metohija is very important to Serbia, adding that human rights are being violated in the Serbian southern province on a daily basis, that the possible reception of so-called Kosovo to this international organisation is a violation of all the principles on which the work of the Council of Europe rests and that such an act would be a defeat for the rule of law. She added that the position of the Republic of Serbia on the issue of Kosovo-Metohija overcomes all political disagreements among the parliamentarians and that the delegation is passionately fighting for the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which, after 11 years, has not been established in Kosovo-Metohija. She said that the wilfulness of Albin Kurti was so far-reaching that Patriarch Porfirije was banned from entering the territory of Kosovo-Metohija and could not attend the ceremonial start of the regular annual meeting of the Holy Assembly, which was supposed to start in the Patriarchate of Pec, the cradle of Serbian identity.

Delegation member Elvira Kovacs added that she got the impression that the issue of national minority rights, one of the most important for the Republic of Serbia, finds its place less and less on the institution’s agenda.

Buggenhout said that Belgium will continue to support the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and that this is the only way to resolve the disagreements between the two opposing sides.

The meeting was attended by the Head of the delegation, Biljana Pantic Pilja, and delegation members Elvira Kovacs, Vladimir Djordjevic and Aleksandar Mirkovic.