Brussels failed to bend Vucic to the Kosovo separatists
Representatives of the EU and Kosovo tried to reduce the dialogue to Belgrade recognizing the region seized from Serbia, but Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic agreed to talk only about the economy, the search for the graves of missing persons and the return of repatriates.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this from Belgrade.
In Brussels, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo “Prime Minister” Avdula Hoti held bilateral meetings with the EU and then a joint meeting with each other with the participation of European representatives. At the very beginning of the latter, the Serbian leader made it clear that the dialogue would be conducted from Serbian positions and no one would be able to impose their will on his country.
“Do you speak Serbian?” – Aleksandar Vucic was the first to ask the “Prime Minister” of Kosovo, Avdula Hoti.
“I understand,” he replied, embarrassed.
“We prepared well for the meeting, conducted it well and represented the interests of Serbia in the best possible way,” Vucic told reporters following his visit to Brussels. – It was hard, but we didn’t expect that it would be easy for us in Brussels. I'm not sure everyone understood that they needed to talk about the economy, some started talking about war reparations. I refused and said there was no point in discussing this.”
According to the Serbian president, Belgrade stands for the elimination of all customs barriers between the territories of a single country, but no one can impose on Serbia goods with the seal and inscription “Republic of Kosovo” - the Serbian side will never recognize this.
“Let's find something that can make a trade agreement good for both sides. We have something to offer, I hope that Pristina also has something to offer us, and I believe that this can contribute to the creation of favorable conditions.”
Vučić also reminded the Kosovo side that, according to the Brussels Agreement of 2013, the Commonwealth of Serbian Municipalities was to be created in Kosovo, but Pristina is still blocking this process.
“You cannot escape what was signed in the agreement and we will insist on this,” Vucic told a representative of the Kosovo separatists.
During the conversation, the issue of missing and displaced persons was also raised, and the Serbian leader made it clear that Belgrade did not intend to hide anything - if only Pristina would indicate the places on the map where such burials could be. At the same time, he recalled that of the 1644 people considered missing in Kosovo during the conflict and the years following it, 570 were Serbs. And the fact that the Serbian side also does not have access to alleged secret burial sites on the territory of Kosovo, for example in Koshar and Istok.
“The Albanians asked to open all military and police archives, but we said that they need to open the archives of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army so that we can see where Serbs and other non-Albanians were killed,” said Aleksandar Vucic.
Regarding displaced persons or refugees, the President of Serbia noted that today there are 220 thousand such people in Kosovo - 177 thousand of them are Serbs.
“Only 1,9% of refugees managed to return to their homes,” Vucic noted. “We hope to find a solution to this problem.” Those who want to return must be guaranteed safety."
In turn, Avdula Hoti, following the meeting, said that he expected a full legal agreement, implying mutual recognition, in a few weeks or a few months.
“That won’t happen,” Vucic replied. – When I say that he repeated “two countries” twenty times, and each time I answered “one country and one of its autonomous provinces,” then you see that someone came not to talk, but to try to use the opportunity for stronger blackmail in order to impose their interests. To this you smile and move on, fighting for the interests of your country,” Vucic added.
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