Head of Kosovo District Goran Arsic stated that the Serbs living south to the Ibar River will have to accept the implementation of agreements reached in Brussels if, as he put it, they want to secure more or less normal living and working conditions.

Each one of us will have to take certificates labelling us as Kosovars. We do not want to give legitimacy to Kosovo institutions, but we are forced to accept both their registration plates and all the agreements reached between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels in order to live and work normally, Arsic said.

He said that anyone who takes the KS registration plate, and 170 Serbs have taken it so far, is "stigmatized," whereas others who decided to take the RKS plates do not have such problems. Arsic claims that the Belgrade-Pristina agreements are dividing the Serbs in KiM, because the Serbs south to Ibar have to respect them, whereas the Serbs in northern KiM, although totally isolated, cannot implement all the agreements.

Consequently, the issue rises whether this is a single territory in KiM and whether Serbia has abandoned the Serbs living south of Ibar, Arsic said. He noted that the number of Serbs thinking of selling their property and moving out from Kosovo is increasing in the south, adding that in the newly formed municipality of Gracanica only about a hundred of Serbs got jobs in the Kosovo system.

He claims that the Serbs working in the Serbian institutions live far better than those employed in Kosovo's institutions, because the former have wages of RSD 30,000 to 35,000 ( EUR 1= RSD 103), whereas the latter earn EUR 180 a month on average.

When asked if the Ahtissari plan provides a more or less organized life, Arsic replied that the plan is not acceptable for the Serbs, because it envisaged only six Serb municipalities on the territory of KiM.

He also said that the northern part could be directly incorporated, i.e. connected with the Republic of Serbia, and that institutional guarantees should be demanded for the Serbs south to Ibar. What is most important is that the Serbian institutions should remain in the central part of Kosovo, i.e. south to Ibar, Arsic concluded.