Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Vučić: Frozen conflict - Serbia in an increasingly harder position

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated today that he is against maintaining the state of frozen conflict on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, given that option only appears more realistic, but in fact allows Serbia less maneuvering space to safeguard its sovereignty in the Province.

Resolving the problem of Kosovo-Metohija is of essential importance for our country, Vučić said, opening the session of the National Convention on EU held in the framework of the Internal Dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija, and pointed out that at this moment we have two realistic options.

“One appears much more realistic, and that is maintenance of the frozen conflict situation,” President said, adding that most of those who participated in the process of Internal Dialogue advocated in favor of the preservation of the status quo and delay while waiting for better prospective for our interests in future.

“Despite the fact that this opinion is held by the majority of the political and non-political public of Serbia, I am against such a solution, not because I don’t like Serbia or have better understanding of the global trends in global politics, but because we have conducted an analysis about our gains and losses with certain NGOs and foundations, through the Government and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija,” Vučić said.

The conclusion of these analyzes is that, having in mind our economic, social, demographic, democratic and all other potentials, we gain nothing by buying time.

“On the contrary, we will be in an ever harder situation, us, not others,” the Serbian President is convinced.

“Resolution is important for us, even after such a difficult moment that our country experienced recently, which demonstrated the desire of one side to resolve the problems with violence and their belief in the policy of fait accompli as conducive to a solution, with the fundamental objective of their essential takeover of northern Kosovo, because no actual sovereignty exists there, and they have already ascertained that, taking into account economic and demographic potentials, Albanians will become majority population in all municipalities in the south of the Ibar, save from Štrpce, within a couple of years”, said Vučić.

He emphasized that Pristina is fervently commitment to taking the north Kosovo and Metohija, at any costs, and thus achieving sovereignty.

"Their intention is to confront us with a fait accopli, a done deal, in the same way that Croatia confronted us to a done deal after the Storm military operation, and to have the same thing happen in the north of Kosovo and Metohija," Vučić said.

Dialogue can only happen according to the principle: implement the already agreed, and only then move on

In the future, the process of dialogue can only be guided by the following principle: first implement the already agreed, and then continue the talks, said today Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in the session held by the National Convention on the EU in the framework of the internal dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija.

“Talks will surely continue, but in what way and in what format, remains to be seen," Vučić said.

He said that it was a problem to hold talks on Friday, but then on the same day Pristina decides to have Đurić, the chief negotiator, arrested and have him be physically abused and try to rob him of his dignity, but in fact it was only Pristina authorities who debased themselves.

“Going forward, everything will be based on implementing and finishing the process. In other words, what has been agreed must be upheld, and once you have done that, we can move on with the talks," Vučić said.

President explained that we will have to overcome the atmosphere created by the arrest of Marko Đurić, but that there will be no reliance whatsoever.

He also stated that the state leadership of Serbia is not ready to be the sole actor in making compromises and being engaged in all sorts of talks, and be the sole party giving and allowing everything, while the other side, and those who are intermediating, pretend to be blind to the fact which side is genuinely ready to compromise, and which one is not.

The President stated that the atmosphere in Kosovska Mitrovica, after the events, continues to be terrible.

President Vučić believes that everything that happened - was also due to the internal problems of the provisional authorities in Pristina, persecution of the followers of Fethulah Gülen and their relations with the United States, but he said that it was also a test of the takeover of the north of Kosovo and Metohija.

“It was not just about the arrest of Marko Đurić, but also about the fact that they deployed their units to the north,” Vučić explained.

The President thanked the members of the National Convention of the EU for taking part in the Internal Dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija.

Latest News