Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Vučić: Difficult discussions, progress made on Community of Serbian Municipalities

Following the completion of the latest round of the prime-ministerial dialogue with Priština, the Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić stated that the discussions were difficult and that certain progress had been made in terms of the Community of Serbian Municipalities (CSM).

“It is clear that we are closer to reaching an agreement on some issues, while on the others we are still nowhere near,” Vučić told the press, adding that the next meeting will most probably take place as early as next Monday.

“For a very long time we have been insisting that six out of fifteen points of the Brussels Agreement pertain to the CSM. Today we had the longest, most serious and most difficult talks about the issue and certain degree of progress has been made,” Vučić said.

Prime Minister Vučić assessed that it was important that the dialogue on the most important issues was initiated and the points of disagreement between the two sides clarified. As a result it is now more obvious what comes next.

“I’m able to say that we have done something today and made one another aware of our respective points of disagreement. We can only accept things that are not contrary to the interests of our people, and we have to consider the big picture. We must strive towards the best possible solutions, and not just tell the people that we have accepted something simply to ensure the opening of the negotiating chapters with the EU,” the Prime Minister explained.

He added that the Prime Ministers also discussed the issue of energy and that Priština's view was that it was actually the best way to resolve the issue of property.

“In point of fact, we didn’t discuss energy as much as Priština's attempt to take the entire property at the stroke of a pen, particularly with reference to the substation Valač, Gazivode Lake and the entire power line grid which is linked to Kraljevo and has nothing to do with the energy system of Kosovo,” Vučić added.

According to him, the property issues were the gist of the discussions, and then “some tried to give us a political lecture on how and what we lost in the 1990’s and I’m not really sure if any progress has been made there”.

With regard to the discussions on telecommunications, Vučić said that certain progress has been, and the Serbian side was working towards ensuring that no dialling codes are required when making phone calls and that the same tariff is kept for the calls as before.

“We would like everything to be done simultaneously, so our people could have the right to call anyone in Central Serbia and vice versa at the same tariff as now. We want no changes in this respect, while the other side is asking for additional three or six months to check if their operators will allow it,” the Prime Minister said and emphasised that Belgrade asked for the prompt licensing of a Serbian operator.

He also stated there were still certain problems with the bridge between Mitrovica North and South. Despite the fact that there are two bridges on the left and right of the main bridge in Mitrovica, the Albanians insist on passenger and cargo traffic over this bridge.

“We insist that it be in accordance with the Brussels Agreement, which gives Mitrovica North the right to urban, rural and spatial planning, and we are pushing for keeping the bridge as a pedestrian area,” Vučić said and clarified that Serbia does not want to prevent anyone's freedom of movement.

“If we have a minimal right to landscape development, then I suppose we can ask for a pedestrian area there. And no one is prevented from coming to Mitrovica North since there are two more bridges available for traffic,” Vučić concluded.