Serbia has formed the working group that has been said to deal with the coordination of the activities of the state bodies to prevent the eventual membership of Kosovo in the organization of the Council of Europe.

The working group was formed by order of the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, during the session held on April 5 in the Serbian Government.

“This working group has held its first meeting”, it was said in a press release from the Serbian Government.

The working group will be led by Ivica Dacic, who is the chief diplomat of Serbia, together with the head of the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, Petar Petkovic.

Members of this team will also be the Serbian Minister for European Integration, Tanja Miscevic, and the Minister of Trade, Tomislav Momirovic.

The formation of this group had been announced by Vučić a day before. He asked the state institutions to join forces to prevent the possible membership of Kosovo in the Council of Europe.

“We have difficult and important tasks, and I would ask all members of the Government, regardless of what functions they will perform after the formation of the new Government, to work with dedication in carrying out these tasks”, stated Vučić one day earlier during an extraordinary meeting of the Serbian Government.

The European Union has not commented on Serbia’s plans to try to block Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe.

On April 5, EU spokesman Peter Stano was asked whether such actions by Serbia constitute a violation of the agreement on the road to normalization of relations – reached a year ago – but he declined to comment.

“I don’t want to comment on what was said about what President Vučić wants to do. I can repeat that, based on the expectations of the European Union, both Serbia and Kosovo should, without further delay, start implementing the agreement they agreed to more than a year ago in Ohrid. This is of great importance. When it comes to the Council of Europe, membership issues belong to the Council of Europe,” said Stano.