Jessen Petersen welcomed Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku's appeal to ethnic Serbs to continue taking salaries from the budget of the UN-administered province.
In a statement for the media, Jessen Petersen said that Kosovo Serbs have the right to take salaries from Kosovo's consolidated budget.
He recalled that a debate on highly important issues regarding decentralisation was under way as part of negotiations on Kosovo's status, and that the UN chief negotiator, Martti Ahtisaari, had established that the Albanian and Serb delegations shared many common positions on the matter.
It is extremely important at this crucial stage of the process for all sides to refrain from unilateral moves, Jessen Petersen said.
He welcomed Ceku's call on ethnic Serbs to join in the efforts of the Kosovo government and the international community to build a multiethnic society that would guarantee them the place to which they are entitled.
Jessen Petersen added that it was time for ethnic Serbs to respond appropriately.
The Coordination Centre for Kosovo in Belgrade has called on Serb employees in Kosovo's education and health sectors to stop taking salaries from the Kosovo budget as of 1 April, claiming that the authorities in Kosovo wanted to show that local Serbs were integrated into a multiethnic and democratic society.
Deputies of the Serb List for Kosovo, who are still boycotting the work of the Kosovo parliament, did not agree with the recommendation of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo.