Serbian language media outlet "srbijadanas.rs" published an article today with the claim in the title that the United States Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, has clearly stated that Serbia is not obligated to remove Kosovo from the constitution.
The article published in the Serbian-language media outlet is titled "THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO PRISTINA HAS CLEARLY SAID: Serbia is not obligated to remove Kosovo from the Constitution."
After verifying the facts, hibrid.info has found that the Serbian media outlet's claim is a misinterpretation of the US ambassador's statement, as he did not definitively say what is alleged in the article.
Link to the article published in the Serbian language media outlet "srbijadanas.rs":
https://www.sd.rs/vesti/kosovo/kosovo-pristina-srbija-ambasador-2023-03-16
Excerpts from the article published in the Serbian language media outlet "srbijadanas.rs":
The US Ambassador to Pristina, Geoffrey Hovenier, has announced that the European proposal for normalization does not mention in any of the 11 points that Serbia is obliged to remove Kosovo and Metohija from its Constitution.
– I have not seen that this issue has been raised through the 11 points of the European proposal, so I do not believe that it is a specific element of the current talks – said Hovenier, ATV reports.
Despite the fact that the US ambassador's statement is quoted in the content of the article, the interpretation of this statement is incorrect.
In an interview with the Albanian-language television channel ATV, when asked whether Serbia "will be the one forced to remove Kosovo from its constitution?", Hovenier replied:
"This is a difficult question. You have seen the text with the eleven points, or the eleven articles on which there was agreement, as I have, I have not seen any addressing of this issue in these 11 points, so I do not believe that it has been a specific element of the negotiations currently." (here)
So, Ambassador Hovenier is not saying that Serbia is not obliged to remove the article of the Constitution that considers Kosovo as part of territorial integrity, as claimed in the title of the article on "srbijadanas.rs".
Analyze:
The Serbian-language media outlet "srbijadanas.rs" has claimed that the US Ambassador to Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, has clearly stated that Serbia is not obligated to remove Kosovo from its constitution.
The Serbian media outlet's claim is an interpretation of the American ambassador's statement.
In fact, Ambassador Hovenier stated that the 11 points presented did not address this issue, and he does not believe that this issue has been a specific element of the talks so far.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses these claims as "manipulation of facts".
Rating:
The evaluation as "Manipulation of facts" is given to those media reports that use facts known to be correct, but interpret them in a distorted way. These reports typically use inaccurate information to draw inaccurate conclusions or claims, thereby misdirecting consumers' conclusions of media content in relation to the actual meaning of the facts presented.