Selaković: Diplomatic and political response if Priština violates the agreements

In his appearance on the Radio-Television of Serbia, Minister Selaković said that anyone who thought that Serbia would sit idly by and be disinterested in the brutal violation of both the Washington and the Brussels Agreements was greatly mistaken. "Serbia will certainly not be silent. We will be most interested [in any such occurrence] and we will fight [against it] in every way possible. Priština is interested in joining the Council of Europe. The Russian Federation is no longer in the Council of Europe, but even if it were, the Council of Europe makes its decisions by a simple majority. It is no secret that Priština has the majority of Council of Europe members on its side, but what it does not have playing in its favour are the principles established by the Council of Europe 12 years ago, stipulating the conditions for becoming a member," said Minister Selaković.
 
When asked if the West would request Serbia to recognise the self-proclaimed "Kosovo" so that they could tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that there was no legal precedent, Minister Selaković said that the West was already, in a way, pursuing a policy towards that goal. "We have been fighting to prevent the policy from going that direction by using all diplomatic and political means and will fight even harder now. We are the ones who have been claiming that a precedent had been set, one that will be used – and everyone is aware of this", he said.
 
According to Minister Selaković, the problem of secession existed around the world with hundreds of examples. Setting one precedent could give rise to a kind of a deviant rule which would then be applied in other cases. "The President of the Russian Federation mentioned the case of Kosovo and Metohija, that is, he mentioned the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. I get chills every time I think of or hear about that Opinion because the representatives of Priština in the UN Security Council mention it every time. The then Serbian leadership very much contributed to [the creation of] the Opinion by asking the International Court of Justice the wrong question. However, we have to deal with it now, and we have to fight for our interests in Kosovo and Metohija, the interests of the Serbian state and the Serbian people", he argued.

During his visit to the public broadcasting service, Minister Selaković strongly objected to the showing of a map displaying Kosovo and Metohija as separated from Serbia. "This is scandalous ― Kosovo and Metohija being marked within border lines with KOS written on it. It reads “KOS” for what it should be Kosovo and Metohija (KiM) and it is separated from Serbia ― we have to change this! How do you expect us to fight as a state, a government, a president, a prime minister, and ministers if we have something like this here?! Regardless, we will not give up the fight", he emphasised, and expressed his hope that this would not happen again. The presenter said that it was a mistake and apologised, and the said map was removed from the screen.
 
Reflecting on the address which Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić gave to the nation a few days earlier ― when he presented the 10-point plan, underlining that Serbia would not impose sanctions on Russia and would go even stronger towards the EU ―, Minister Selaković said that the key to accelerating the process of Serbia's European integration was not in the government’s hands. He explained that what was in its hands were Serbia’s actions regarding certain requirements in the European-integration process towards which Serbia was aspiring for several reasons.
 
Minister Selaković noted that almost 65% of Serbia`s trade was done with the EU member states, that Serbia’s biggest investors and individual donors came from the EU member states, and that hundreds of thousands of jobs in Serbia were tying Serbia to companies owned by the companies from the EU member states. "Four out of our eight neighbours are already in the EU. The price we need to pay is the one we are ready to pay, the same price other countries joining the EU paid. However, we must try to keep the price as low as possible for us, and we are succeeding in this”, he said.

Considering all this, ― Minister Selaković explained ― the approach to the problem presented by President Vučić was the most rational one. That is, we are not imposing sanctions on Russia, and we are keeping a faster EU path as Serbia`s priority goal in order to transform our society, strengthen the rule of law, keep attracting more foreign investments, and remain the champion of economic development in Europe. "Serbia is succeeding in this because it is run seriously. President Vučić specifically mentioned the fact that Serbian citizens had lost that the type of enthusiasm about and support for the EU path, but clearly said ‘alright, show me an alternative to that path, how to get more jobs, build more high-speed railways, hospitals, how our salaries and pensions will increase”, Minister Selaković stated.
 
When asked about the position of Serbian diplomacy given that the war in Ukraine and the global crisis had imposed new (re)alignments, rules and positions in diplomatic activities on all countries, Minister Selaković said that Serbian diplomacy was in the service of the Serbian state which was one of the few freedom-loving and sovereign states in Europe and the world, trying to make decisions on its future in a completely independent and sovereign manner. “The political architecture in the world is changing. While we must change and adapt to certain circumstances, both European and global, we need to keep the determinants of our domestic and foreign policy as out guiding ideas. That is why President Vučić came up with the 10-point plan, showing the seriousness of the approach to the upcoming crisis", he pointed out.
 
Minister Selaković announced that on 16th May he should be attending a working lunch in Brussels on the occasion of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, which would include ministers of foreign affairs of all EU member states and the Western Balkans, where the question of the Western Balkans would be one of the main topics.