"We insist on the urgent formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, and that is also a prerequisite for discussing a solution between Belgrade and Pristina" - Minister Dacic said appearing on Happy TV morning show

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic was a guest of the morning show on Happy TV.

On this occasion, Minister Dacic spoke about whether the West was united in its pressure on Serbia, about the Macron-Scholz plan and whether Germany was more strict than America.

– The Government will hold a session today, which will be attended by President Vucic, and this topic will inevitably be discussed. What is noticeable is that, regardless of whether there are any differences between individual countries or international organizations when it comes to the dialogue, they have now acted in unison, as a single group of five, and spoke with the President of Serbia. You also heard from him that they shared with him some claims as to what would happen if Serbia does not agree to the presented proposal, and this will be discussed in more detail today. President Vucic has the support of the state leadership, the Serbian Government and the entire ruling coalition.

– There are two strategic goals, the vital national state interests in terms of territorial integrity being the first, and the other is the future of Serbia, that is, avoiding adverse consequences for the economic development of Serbia in the case of restrictive measures. As always, the situation on this matter is not easy, bearing in mind that these are countries that have recognized the unilateral independence of Kosovo, and probably all of them have the goal of resolving this issue as soon as possible. It is certain that their view is not in line with what we would like. The President's approach was absolutely correct, and that means that we are participating in the dialogue, we must not allow Serbia to be condemned in advance. I did not participate in those discussions, so I cannot speak about it. You heard from the President that those talks were not easy and he said that they faced him with certain challenges in terms of what would happen if Serbia does not accept that plan - said the Minister.

– We have never participated in discussions using categories such as rejection. The President also said that he had certain reservations. I do not want to get into that, the President will address the citizens of Serbia today. It is up to us to say what it is that we do not agree with. But we need to participate in the dialogue and discuss the plan. Therefore, it is truly unacceptable that some attacks on the President have been heard. The key question is why? What did Vucic do that is against the national and state interests? We participate in the dialogue as it is up to us to use political means to try to reach a mutually acceptable solution for the Kosovo issue or for those issues that would leave us with different views of the status, but allow us to work on the normalization of our relations.

The Minister also touched upon the topic of the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities and the Brussels Agreement.

– Nothing happened, and the President did not do anything that was against the state and national interests. On the contrary, I think that what he did is in favour of our national interests. We have shown a good will to talk, pointing out what would be a problem for us, that is, what our red lines are. A few days before this, President Vucic said that we believe that it is impossible for us to negotiate the CSM or the Brussels Agreement again. The Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) is the essence of the Brussels Agreement, and it was not envisaged as a non-governmental organization. Several steps were taken with certain and very frequent changes as to who is in power in Pristina and no one ever wanted to work on the formation of the CSM. Even now, they would like to try and avoid this if possible and see of it can be a non-governmental organization, write a statute and so on, and then they talked about whether it should be in accordance with their laws.

– These are international obligations that have been undertaken. The Brussels Agreement was signed. It was signed by Catherine Ashton on behalf of the EU and Hashim Thaci. There has been an attempt from the very beginning, as soon as they signed the Brussels Agreement, to disavow it. They tried in many ways, through the Constitutional Court, they tried until they openly said that they had no intention of forming the CSM. We insist on the urgent formation of the CSM, and that is also a prerequisite for discussing some political plan or a proposal for a solution between Belgrade and Pristina – Dacic said.

Minister Dacic also commented on the position of the United States and other Western countries on the recognition of Kosovo.

– Their position is well-known. They said that Kosovo's independence is irreversible and that this is a waste of time for them. They said that it does not matter how many countries recognize Kosovo as long as the U.S. and some other Western countries recognize it. The situation was such that we were forced to prevent those unilateral acts of the Pristina administration, namely that they apply for membership in certain international organizations, so we had to work to secure us a majority in those organizations. The issue that is disputed between us and Pristina is an issue of territorial integrity and whether and how one can declare independence as a national minority in a country without consulting the country from which one wishes to secede. If we look back now and see if we were right in what we did, I think we have achieved a lot. Such situations, these are days of essential importance for vital state and national interests. In such days, it is absolutely necessary that there be a political and state unity in the country. Any attack on the state leadership, especially on the President, who is now in the spotlight in terms of negotiations and pressures, weakens our position in some way and can only benefit our enemies.

– The President himself said that there is no surrender and that we will defend Serbia. Serbia needs to defend itself with a wise and decisive policy. That is why we need a political and state unity. We also have opposition parties that would support all of the aforementioned, and would even add something that no one had written. Then there is also the other part of the opposition that plays a negative role in its own way, because it encourages beating the drums of war when it should not. It is the best among us who volunteer for battle in wartime, and the worst among us who do so in peacetime. The most important thing is to continue the dialogue wisely and decisively, with the clear goal that we want to be part of the modern world, we want to join the European Union, we want the economic development of our country, we want future for our children and that we want to protect the national and state interest in the best possible way - Dacic concluded.  

Source/Photo: Happy TV