Rakic: Quint Ambassadors Said They Backed Pristina’s Decisions  

Goran Rakic, Milan Radojevic, Petar Petkovic/BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The Serb List party leader and a minister in the Kosovo government, Goran Rakic, on Aug. 16 said that in a meeting with mayors of four predominantly Serb municipalities in Kosovo’s north, the ambassadors of the Quint countries, consisting of the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy had said that “Kosovo is independent and that these five countries backed all Kosovo’s decisions.”

Speaking to reporters in Belgrade, Rakic said it had been agreed not to disclose the content of the meeting held on Aug. 15, but due to “the importance and seriousness of the message,” their duty was to make it public.   

“During the meeting, which lasted around two hours, when the mayors informed the ambassadors of the problems in their respective municipalities, the key messages from the Quint ambassadors were that their countries supported Kosovo’s independence and that they, as officials of their respective countries, also supported Kosovo’s independence,” Rakic said.

According to Rakic, the ambassadors back Pristina’s decisions, particularly those regarding vehicle plates and introduction of documents which would be issued to Serbs when entering and existing Kosovo. “They say that Pristina has done this in accordance with the Brussels Agreement, that it has been agreed, while the mayors were requested to accept reality that Kosovo is an independent country.”   

Rakic added that the mayors protested, saying that it was not in line with the Brussels Agreement and that it was absolutely inadmissible for the Serbs in Kosovo’s north. Rakic stressed that everything should be resolved in the dialogue, adding he expected a solution for overcoming the crisis to be reached in Brussels on Aug. 18.