Serbia ready if Pristina decides to violate the moratorium

Asked to comment on allegations that 10 countries are ready to withdraw recognition if Pristina initiates new recognitions, Starović reminded for TV Tanjug that in the campaign launched by Serbia in 2017, 18 countries withdrew the decision to recognize independence.

"The goal was largely achieved, 110 countries were on the side of Pristina, over half of the UN members. We managed to reduce that number by 18 and lower it below the key number of 97", Starović said.

He emphasized that Serbia is committed to respecting all obligations accepted at the international level, either by the Brussels or Washington agreement – a key part of which is a double moratorium.

He reminded that this means that Serbia will suspend activities on "unrecognizing" the independence of Kosovo and Metohija, and Pristina will refrain from seeking support for membership in international organizations.

The State Secretary emphasized that Serbia will respect the agreement until the last letter and day.

He added that we hoped, if there was good will from Pristina and the international community, that the memorandum would be extended.

"There is no will for that in Pristina, but if they violate it by 4 September or decide not to adhere to it afterwards, we will be ready for something like that", he said, emphasizing that he could not talk about countries that would change their position on the issue of recognition of Kosovo's independence because of the commitment to the agreement signed in Washington.

"I can't talk about the number of countries that might reconsider wrong decisions, but if things went in that direction which we don't want, the number of countries that would reconsider and withdraw would be far, far higher than the number of countries that might decide to recognize Kosovo's independence after so many years", he said.

Asked whether the United States or the EU have a greater influence on Kosovo, Starović said that it is quite clear that the influence of the United States is far greater than the influence of the EU for several reasons, among other things, because the EU perspective of Pristina is still uncertain.

The EU has lost much of its credibility in the Western Balkans, he said, recalling Thessaloniki and the Summit in 2003, when we were promised that we would become members of the EU.

"But the baby that was born then is 18 years old today, and we are where we are. Kosovo and Metohija did not even get visa liberalization, even though they were promised that 10 years ago, and they fulfilled, we must admit, 95 percent of the requests", Starović said.

He added that there is no better example than Northern Macedonia, which also changed its name, and it is there where it is.

"We are criticized for the inconsistency of foreign policy with EU policy, but my answer to all that is, of course, that we are committed to increasing the percentage of compliance, but not by imposing sanctions on Russia or condemning China for this and that", Starović said.

He added that it is difficult to explain to the citizens why it is so important to see that Northern Macedonia has harmonized its policy 93 percent, Montenegro and Albania 100 percent, when even that does not open the door to full EU membership to them.

The situation in B&H is not sustainable for a long time

State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nemanja Starović, said tonight that it is too early to say whether the High Representative in B&H, Christian Schmidt, came as a friend, as he says, and emphasized that it will be seen from the report that Serbia will ask for under the Dayton Agreement.

"President Aleksandar Vučić announced that Serbia, when it comes to Schmidt's actions, will use for the first time the right from the Dayton Agreement to request regular reporting, and based on those reports and his actions, we will determine our position", Starović told Tanjug when asked whether Schmidt can be trusted when he says he is coming to serve the peoples of B&H.

He added that the fact that Schmidt thanked Inzko for initiating the law banning the denial of genocide cannot be assessed as a friendly gesture, having in mind the position of Belgrade that the move is deeply wrong and bad.

"It is necessary to build coexistence in B&H, and that move of the high representative did not contribute to that, so it will be much harder for us to achieve that goal in the future", said Starović, and when asked whether someone was behind Inzko's move and who was it, he said that that move wasn’t made just like that, that it was "not spontaneous, but carefully designed and thought out".

"Even Inzko and those he consulted are aware of the consequences that are happening before our eyes", Starović said.

When asked what Belgrade can do to help the RS in calming tensions, Starović said that the most important thing is to keep the principled positions that unequivocally say that Serbia supports the territorial integrity of B&H based on the Dayton Agreement, which includes the inviolability of existence of the RS.

"Within that framework, we must continue to provide support to our people in the RS and work on the historical reconciliation of the two peoples", he said.

According to him, if we manage to dispel the fears of both sides – Bosniaks that someone will disturb B&H, and Serbs that the RS will be abolished – that would bring us one step closer to the stabilization of B&H and the entire region, which, as he emphasizes, is the supreme political interest of Serbia.

Starović says he fears there is not enough awareness in the West about the flammability of the situation in B&H.

"Many have considered that they will be able to achieve their goals by imposing decisions against the clearly expressed will of the entire nation, which is also constituent in B&H," he said, emphasizing that we must all work on stabilizing the situation and pointing out that this cannot be achieved by unilateral measures.

Starović said that the situation cannot and will not be sustainable for a longer period, and added that it is important not to allow any kind of escalation.

"The fact is that after Inzko's wrong decision, there is no going back. It seems to me that a spiral of events has been launched, for which is difficult to predict how it will end and on what basis a new political balance will be established", he said, assessing that tensions are the greatest since the end of the war.

The only good thing is that there is a high level of agreement in the RS parliament, said Starović and expressed hope that such actions would be preserved and give strength to the political voice of Banja Luka.

When asked whether Banja Luka can overcome Sarajevo in this situation, he said that he does not like to talk about overcoming and assessed that it is necessary to establish a higher level of understanding.

He says that it is important for the Serbian side to understand how painful what happened in Srebrenica is for the Bosniaks, and that no one should deny that.

"That commission described all the horrors of those crimes", Starović said, adding that Bosniaks must understand that Serbs cannot accept the narrative that is being forced in order to impose a stigma on a suffering nation.

Source: Tanjug