Starović: Serbia’s policy is based on sovereign decisions
In his appearance on TV Prva, State Secretary Starović said that representatives of the international community wanted to hear Serbia’s positions on the most important European and global matters.
“This session of the UN General assembly will be very intense, and the speech of President Vučić will certainly command attention”, stated State Secretary Starović, adding that the timing of the speech by the President of Serbia was good, as he was to speak after the speech of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on a video call from Kyiv, and the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
State Secretary Starović said that there were certain mechanisms of determining the order of speakers, adding that he did not believe that someone could intentionally schedule the speech of President Vučić to follow the one of the Ukrainian President.
In his words, there was no doubt that President Vučić would present a true face of Serbia, and a responsible, committed and passionate approach to the protection of Serbia’s interests.
“The interest in the international community, both for the speech and for meeting with President Vučić and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selaković, is exceptionally high, higher than it has ever been in the last ten years. President Vučić will have over 30 meetings with Ministers of Foreign Affairs of other countries. New York is currently the diplomatic centre of the world. Yesterday, on the first day of the session, Minister Selaković had over 20 bilateral meetings”, said State Secretary Starović.
According to him, Serbia was among the few European countries with a consistent and principled position based on universally accepted values, which many were, unfortunately, trying to eliminate or ignore.
“There are not many European countries which have taken equally principled positions on the observance and protection of the territorial integrity of Ukraine but are, at the same time, not ready to close their eyes to the violation of the territorial integrity of Serbia. The fact that there are few such countries is the source of our diplomatic strength, the strength of our diplomatic position, and there is no one more qualified than President Vučić to properly formulate this and convey it to the international public as a whole”, emphasised State Secretary Starović.
State Secretary Starović also talked about the pressures Serbia was facing to impose sanctions against Russia since the first day of the war in Ukraine.
“Regardless of the pressures, we may not deviate from our vital national interests. We may not shoot ourselves in the foot. We may not impose sanctions against Russia that would cause much more harm to our country than to Moscow. Our policy has endured the test of time”, stated State Secretary Starović.
Speaking of the West’s demands for the admission of the so-called Kosovo to the UN, State Secretary Starović said they were not new, but that the most important thing was that the international legitimation of the so-called Kosovo was not an irreversible process.
State Secretary Starović said that Serbia had, between 2017 and 2020, been able to persuade 18 countries to withdraw their recognition of the so-called Kosovo, and that, since spring 2022, when Pristina brutally violated the Washington Agreement moratorium by applying for membership in the Council of Europe, seven more countries had been convinced to withdraw their recognitions, making it a total of 25 countries which had withdrawn their decisions on the recognition of the so-called Kosovo.
“The eighth derecognition is about to occur. I believe that President Vučić will state the names of these countries, just as we have stated the names of the 18 countries which have withdrawn their recognition and scanned diplomatic notes”, said State Secretary Starović, highlighting the success of the derecognition campaign.
Asked about the pressures Serbia was under to allow Pristina’s admission to UN, State Secretary Starović stated that such pressures were constant and difficult to avoid.
“I cannot rule out the possibility of some kind of an ultimatum. If it occurs, we will not be able to accept it, but will not be allowed to reject it”, said State Secretary Starović. He stated that he did not know what such an ultimatum would specifically entail, but that there was a specific threat of denying investments and withdrawing certain production plants.
In his words, this would have a drastic impact on Serbia’s development perspectives, in view of its high economic dependence on EU.
“Wisdom and commitment will be needed to avoid such an ultimatum”, emphasised State Secretary Starović.
Asked about the plan by President of France Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz concerning Kosovo and Metohija, which had surfaced in Albanian media, State Secretary Starović said it would not be appropriate to make any comments about an unpublished document, stressing that only an interpretation of the document had been published by an Albanian portal, which had showed the document but with 95% of the text blacked out.
State Secretary Starović stated that the document was a non-blinding non-paper, which President Vučić had declined to receive. He also said he himself had read it and found its formulations unacceptable and inappropriate for any formal consideration by Serbia.
“This is certainly the mainstream policy of Berlin and Paris, and they will insist on it. Fortunately, we have taken a strong position. They cannot ask us to allow Pristina’s admission to the UN and ask five EU Member States which have not recognised the so-called Kosovo to now recognise it. What would that look like, if we were to give the green light for an intentional violation of the integrity of Serbia? This is not a realistic expectation”, said State Secretary Starović.