U.S. Ambassador in Pristina: Serb Ticket an Opposition Party in Sovereign, Independent Kosovo

Jeffrey Hovenier (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

United States Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier said on Aug. 1 that Washington wants the Serb Ticket to play its political role in an independent and sovereign Kosovo and that the U.S. expects the party to enter the upcoming mayoral elections in Kosovo’s four northern municipalities – a statement both the Serb Ticket and Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija responded to that very evening.

At a donation ceremony for the Kosovo Police Force, Hovenier said there is no question that the Serb Ticket is an oppositional party in Kosovo, which is a sovereign and independent state.

“And that includes Kosovo’s north. As I’ve said many times before, we know exactly where the border is. It’s north of Mitrovica. We want the Serb Ticket to play its role as a political party in a sovereign, independent and democratic Kosovo. We don’t consider it a Serbian political party, we consider it a party of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo,” he stated.

In response, Director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic stressed that the Serb Ticket is dedicated to defending the Serbian people’s national interests in Kosovo and Metohija, not the interests of foreign embassies.

Serbia is also clear on its own borders, Petkovic added. “We’re well-aware, Ambassador, where the borders of Kosovo and Metohija lie – they are [within] Serbia’s borders as per the U.N. Charter and U.N. [Security Council] Resolution 1244,” Petkovic wrote on Twitter.

Simultaneously, the Serb Ticket issued a press release underlining that the party’s policy has always been determined by its own governing bodies, and that those decisions have always been in the interest of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija. Hovenier’s statement, it added, was merely an attempt to “pander to the Kosovo public” after the Serb Ticket delegation’s recent visit to Washington.