Director of the Office of Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic affirmed today that the government is preparing a new model to redirect funds which have so far been sent to Kosovo-Metohija as assistance and use them to boost the province’s economy.

Mihajlovic told Beta news agency that the budget for Kosovo-Metohija, amounting to approximately €500 million a year, will not be reduced.

These funds will be redirected for the province’s economic development, he explained adding that this means building new facilities and creating new jobs.

This would create real employment and could encourage a number of people to return to the province, he concluded.

Serbian Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic said that the decision of the Serbian Constitutional Court to abolish the bonuses paid on the salaries of employees in Kosovo who receive their pay from Serbia's budget, called Kosovo bonuses, will change nothing in Serbia's endeavors to maintain its sovereignty over the province.

It will, however, be reflected on the lives of Kosovo Serbs, he said. No one is happy with the Court decision which will affect the living conditions of Kosovo Serbs, but the Constitutional Court decision must be respected, Bogdanovic told Belgrade daily Novosti.

He expressed his conviction that the Court decision will not result in an exodus of Serbs from Kosovo. He expressed hope that Serbs who have jobs in Kosovo will continue to work there, bearing in mind the high unemployment rate in the rest of Serbia.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said Sunday in Gracanica that the decision of the Serbian Constitutional Court to abolish the bonuses paid on the salaries of employees in Kosovo who receive their pay from Serbia's budget, called Kosovo bonuses, is controversial.

The Serbian government must find another way of helping Kosovo Serbs and others who respect the state of Serbia, Dacic said.

If Serbia abandons Kosovo and stops caring for Serbs there, and if Serbs abandon Kosovo, other states will certainly lose interest in this issue, Dacic told the press during his visit to Gracanica monastery.

The Serbian government must seriously consider and analyze the consequences of the Constitutional Court decision, he said.

Noting that Kosovo bonuses had been paid for decades, Dacic said that this was due to the specific situation and difficult living and working conditions in Kosovo.

The Court decision must not give the impression that Serbia is no longer interested in this issue, he said.