Belgrade: Serbia’s intention in organizing local elections in Kosovo is completely fair; Serbia does not intend to provoke anybody; The elections have been announced because the areas inhabited by Serbs need representatives chosen in a democratic way – said Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic on Wednesday.Addressing a group of Spanish media representatives in Belgrade, Samardzic said, “We must bear in mind the context - that Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo’s unilateral independence and is organizing elections on its territory. Therefore the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative Joachim Ruecker in fact illegally transferred authorizations for holding elections to provisional authorities in Pristina, thus violating UN Security Council Resolution 1244.”

Commenting on the future status of local Serbian authorities following elections in Kosovo, Samardzic said that until an additional political agreement is reached with UNMIK, they will represent a de facto section of Serbian authorities in the field and through their work help Serbs to remain on their land and live as Serbian citizens.

Samardzic also reiterated that Belgrade does not recognize the EU mission, EULEX, in Kosovo-Metohija since it has been deployed without Serbia’s consent, without the approval of the UN Security Council and on the basis of illegal documents such as Ahtisaari’s plan that has never been approved by the UN Security Council and the so-called common action. That is why the EU mission is not only legal, but also a political problem for relations between Serbia and the European Union. He said that the rift in the government emerged after the EU directly meddled in Serbia’s internal affairs.