Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Djurić: Internal dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija woke up Serbia

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djurić, said today that the internal dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija, initiated by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, undoubtedly woke up Serbia.

Following the meeting of the round table “Students and youth on Kosovo and Metohija”, Djurić said that the spread of separatism cannot contribute to resolving any issues, but problems should be solved through dialogue.

Commenting the statement by Bekim Collaku, one of the representatives of the provisional institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, who called on Romania to recognize Kosovo’s independence, Djurić said that Belgrade is always ready to talk, but will always react to “insolence”.

“This year you will see many more countries that will, thanks to our diplomacy, change their position regarding the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and will withdraw their recognition because they see that ten years after the declaration of independence nothing is resolved in our southern province and something can be resolved only through dialogue and compromise without universal winners or universal losers”, Djurić said.

He added that there is a desire in the international community to get unprincipled decisions from Serbia regarding Kosovo and Metohija by “applying pressure and unprincipled behavior – connecting other desires and ambitions of Serbia for internal reform with European integration”.

“As far as the Government of Serbia and President of Serbia are concerned, Serbia has never reacted to such unprincipled pressures nor has it accepted any blackmail”, Djurić said.

He stated that the difference between the Serbian and the Albanian side can best be seen in the case of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, which has been agreed on in a Brussels agreement.

“Our side is responsible and accepts everything that was agreed and is an integral part of the agreement. The other party accepts only what is in their interest, in their imaginary version of the implementation of the agreement. It doesn’t work that way. CSM is the backbone of the Brussels agreement, anyone who does not want the CSM, in fact, does not want the Brussels agreement”, he said.

Djurić noted that “by sending what was agreed before the Constitutional court to challenge it, Albanians have in fact showed their true intentions regarding CSM”.

“I think that at that moment the international community’s conviction was necessary”, Djurić said adding that CSM obliges Belgrade, Priština, but not Brussels.

He added that he will continue to consult with the representatives of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and the Serbian List on such important and big topics, but will not make decisions for them in advance, and will jointly agree on what is best for the interest of Serbia in the southern province.

Talking about the round table, the Secretary General of the President of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, said that this was an opportunity to see how young people in Serbia view the problem of Kosovo and Metohija, whether they perceive it as a “problem or a challenge”.

“What each session of the internal dialogue has shown is how the topic of Kosovo and Metohija, the topic of the Serbian-Albanian problem, is close to the rest of Serbia, but also how Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are familiar with the problems Serbia Proper and Vojvodina are facing”, Selaković said.

He pointed out that, although it is still ongoing, the internal dialogue is already a success, because it gathered both those who oppose the dialogue, and those who were skeptical about the goals of the internal dialogue.

“And its essence and what has been accomplished and what is the goal of the president of the republic, is to once again discuss this topic in all social forums, in all segments of our society”, Selaković said.

He stated that he was pleased that at today’s round table he heard from the youth how they perceive the issue of demographics and birth rate.

“Let’s try and learn something from the Albanians, to not underestimate them, to stop underrating them and see how they came to achieve some of their national goals”, Selaković said.

He pointed out that a country’s image can be improved only with a wise policy of strengthening the reputation of Serbia, by a policy that shows Serbia as reasonable, does not create problems but solves them and goes towards solving them, and in this way we can “get something slightly more from the interlocutors in the international community and achieve some positive results”.

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