Đurić from Brussels: We insist on the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities

“We insist on the implementation of the agreement on the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities as an indispensable condition for building trust and normalizing relations, which is in fact the very essence of this process,” Đurić stated.

In that context, he referred to remarks made today by representatives of the authorities in Pristina, who reiterated in Brussels their “demand for what they call mutual recognition.”

“Let there be no doubt whatsoever — for Serbia, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is not, will not be, and cannot be a dialogue on mutual recognition. Rather, it is, can, and must be a dialogue on the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, on expanding collective political, economic, cultural, and other rights, not only for the Serbian people but also for all other communities living in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija,” Đurić emphasized.

According to him, Serbia seeks the opening of trade routes and transport links, the reduction of political tensions, and the normalization of relations between Serbs and Albanians.

“However, I do not believe that we should be provoking one another by constantly raising status-related issues everywhere and at every opportunity, or by accusing one another of destabilization, as we were able to hear today at some of the earlier meetings from representatives of Pristina,” Đurić concluded.

As he pointed out, Belgrade is not part of that kind of political contest because it is “playing in a different league — a higher league, the league of the future, in which our region becomes a region of success.”

“I hope that those political forces, both in Pristina and elsewhere, which over the past three and a half years have avoided implementing the agreements reached, will in the period ahead demonstrate good faith toward both Brussels and Belgrade by respecting what has been agreed,” the minister stressed.

He assessed that talks of this kind are never easy or simple and added that he had used the opportunity to draw attention to the position of arrested Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, a matter about which little is being said publicly.

“We have several dozen political prisoners in Kosovo and Metohija, and we are deeply concerned about their situation, given that our representatives are not always able to visit them, and in some cases not even their families can do so. We believe that resolving the issue of political prisoners should be treated with the utmost seriousness, because it also affects the overall atmosphere — if treated negatively, it contributes negatively, and if treated positively, it contributes positively,” Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Đurić concluded.