“Only when Pristina withdraws its unlawful decisions, the talks will continue”, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sent a clear message on Thursday after a new round of dialogue with Hashim Thaci, with the mediation of EU High Representative Federica Mogherini.
The meetings lasted only for two hours with no concrete conclusions made, since the latest moves by the Kosovo Albanians have practically blocked the entire process, the Serbian officials say.
President Vucic reiterated that, in political terms, Serbia was facing difficult days, because Pristina has made a series of moves in the last few days that violate international agreements and agreements reached between the two sides so far. He also pointed out that Serbia would implement any measure aimed to protect the country and its people.
Speaking after his separate meeting with Mogherini, followed a joint meeting of all three sides, Serbian president warned that Pristina had been again announcing the formation of a Kosovo army and even stationing a military unit in North Kosovo which constituted a breach of the Brussels agreement and the agreement with NATO.
Vucic also said that another devious plan is being implemented by Pristina, namely an attempt to get Serbia to be denied the right to transport electricity.
“They want to unlawfully expel us, not even wanting to hear our views. At the moment, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Croatia are not siding with us, but we have Spain, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on our side. The Director of EMS (the electricity company) has our full support and we will not respect or implement their (Pristina’s) decision. If Pristina wants a chaos in the energy sector, but we will not give up on our people and the state”, said Vucic.
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Vucic also said that Pristina, on the eve of the forthcoming Interpol assembly, intensified the pressures, threats and blackmail of the Interpol members in order to gain a seat in that international police organization.
Asked why the talks lasted so briefly this time, Vucic said:” When someone threatens you with sending an army to the north of Kosovo, while breaking a ten-year agreement, and when they failed to form the Community of Serb Municipalities, which was their only obligation stemming from the Brussels Agreement, there is no point in talking much. And now they want to stop us from exercising our right to transport electricity.”
On the eve of his arrival in Brussels, Vucic said in Helsinki that Serbia’s position was difficult and that it was not pleasant to talk to Thaci, but that it was better to talk for one hundred years than to fight for one day.
THACI: CONFRONTING SERBIA IS HARD
The president of the provisional Kosovo institutions, Hashim Thaçi, said in Brussels on Thursday that “confronting Serbia is difficult”.
“It is in the best interest of both countries to achieve a peaceful solution that creates space for a European perspective. It remains to be seen in the future that things will move, but it is difficult to reach an agreement with Serbia. Serbia was fierce and arrogant in talks while our stance balanced and fair”, Thaci said after a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
Thaci added that it was necessary to create an environment in which Belgrade and Pristina can reach an agreement that would end in “mutual recognition and membership of Kosovo in the UN,” the Pristina media are quoting Thaci.
Commenting on Thaci’s statement that he would rather talk to the devil then him, the Serbian president said that his task was to act responsibly and seriously and to be more accountable and more serious than all others in order to preserve peace and stability.
On the other hand, a member of the Pristina delegation, Bekim Colak, said before the beginning of the conversation that Thaci with Vucic will discuss the modalities of the final agreement, which, according to him, means mutual recognition of Belgrade and Pristina.
The dialogue in Brussels began with separate meetings of Vucic and Thaci with Federica Mogherini. After a trilateral meeting, Thaci said that they “discussed the dynamics of the dialogue and that there was the talk of achieving a legally binding agreement between Belgrade and Pristina.”
He added that he was optimistic that an agreement would be reached in the near future.
According to him, dialogue and agreement are the only alternatives, and in the end, the agreement will nevertheless be reached.
“Dialogue and negotiations do not go with well with an ultimatum or an aggressive tone,” Thaci concluded.
(Vecernje Novosti, 08.11.2018)
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