Kosovo’s Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports Hajrulla Ceku said the heritage organization Europa Nostra has lost credibility due to what he said was being politically influenced by Serbia.

Speaking at a press conference, Ceku said the visit of the organization’s representatives to Kosovo is ‘meaningless’ and has no effects. Ceku accused the organization of “hypocrisy” since he said last year a cultural heritage organization had sent a nomination to Europa Nostra to include the Novoberdo fortress on the list of endangered sites but it instead chose to include the Decan Monastery “without justification and with political influence from Serbia”.

He also commented on a Twitter post of the European Parliament rapporteur Viola von Cramon after meeting Europa Nostra officials. Von Cramon said that she discussed the need for the protection of endangered cultural heritage across Europe “with the particular focus on Decani Monastery and destroyed cultural heritage in Ukraine.” The Kosovo minister said he hoped Von Cramon made a mistake when she put the Decan Monastery and the monuments destroyed in Ukraine by Russian aggression in one sentence. “We want to believe that she made this mistake unintentionally, that she did not have the correct information and made it hastily, but she must provide us with an explanation for this mistake.”