The Serbian daily "Novosti" published an article today (September 29) claiming that the German foundation "Friedrich Ebert Stiftung" and the European Institute for Peace (EIP) are drafting the statute of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities.
"Novosti", citing diplomatic sources, claims that for this purpose a meeting was organized on Tuesday in Belgrade at a restaurant called "Aeroklub", attended by representatives of Serbian and Albanian NGOs from Kosovo and international missions operating in Kosovo, as well as German diplomats.
Link to the article published in "Novosti":
https://www.novosti.rs/vesti/politika/1158229/novosti-otkrivaju-lajcak-nemci-nvo-srbi-prave-zso
Excerpts from the article published in "Novosti":
The German Foundation “Friedrich Ebert Stiftung” (FES) and the European Institute for Peace (EIP) have been entrusted with the task of drafting the Statute of the Union of Serbian Municipalities, on which the aforementioned organizations have been working over the past few months, and whose revised version, with the comments of Serbian and Albanian NGOs with Kosovo and Metohija, should have ended up on the table of Miroslav Lajcak, the EU Special Representative for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
As "Novosti" learns from diplomatic circles, a meeting was organized for this purpose on Tuesday in Belgrade, at the "Aeroklub" premises, attended by representatives of Serbian and Albanian NGOs from Kosovo and Metohija, international missions from the southern province, as well as German diplomats.
The Serbian newspaper's claims have drawn the names of the German foundation "Friedrich Ebert Stiftung" and the European Institute for Peace (EIP), which have reacted to what is said in the article published in "Novosti".
In a joint statement published on the Facebook account, they deny the claims made by Novosti in today's article. The published statement emphasizes the fact that the EU representative, Miroslav Lajcak, has not been asked by the German government or any other party to develop a statute for the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities. (here)
Parts of the response from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the European Institute for Peace (EIP) on Facebook:
Statement on today's news coverage
The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the European Peace Institute would like to refute the claims made by Večernje Novosti in today's article referring to our work.
Our two organizations have not received any request or mandate from EUSR Miroslav Lajcak, the German government, or any other party to develop a statute for the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities.
We regret that our two organizations were not consulted in the preparation of the article. We request that the news services that published the story include our clarification with the same level of prominence that the original article received.
Analyze:
The Serbian daily "Novosti", citing diplomatic sources, has claimed that the German foundation "Friedrich Ebert Stiftung" and the European Institute for Peace are drafting the statute of the Association.
After the article was published in the Serbian newspaper, those mentioned in the article reacted through a joint statement, through which they deny such a thing, emphasizing that they were not asked by EUSR Miroslav Lajcak, the German government or any other party to develop a statute for the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities.
Hibrid.info, based on its work methodology, assesses that this Serbian media outlet has made fabricated claims in this article and is considered "Fake News".
Rating:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.