Vucic: We will never be anyone's servants. I've said this in China, Russia, and the West
The president of Serbia spoke about current topics
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic says that Serbia is not in a position to refuse any talks when it comes to Kosovo and Metohija. He commented on the announced negotiations at th eWhite House, said that he spoke with US envoy Richard Grenell and that the topic of the conversation on September 2 will be the economy.
He added that the reason why Grenell used the term "negotiations" was a question for this US diplomat.
"They said the other day that they support negotiations under the auspices of the EU. But I won't go into their relationship. We are too small to allow ourselves to do that," said Vucic.
"Americans consider these (Serbia and so-called Kosovo) as two independent states, and in that regard we should understand the gravity of our position," he told TV Pink's morning program.
The situation is the same with most EU member-states.
"Germany is so superior and dominant in the EU, this has never been the case," said the president of Serbia, stressing that negotiations are being conducted under the auspices of the EU, and that Germany is dominant in that.
He also said that Albanians are going to Washington to present themselves as an independent state, although Serbia will never treat them that way.
"I said that to Avdullah Hoti. I told them to take a break," the president of Serbia pointed out.
Arming Serbia
Vucic also spoke about to the fact that Serbia is buying weapons.
"We are not arming ourselves in order to attack someone. Peace and stability are important to us, and we want to show that to our citizens. This prevents aggression against our country, because the stronger we are, the less likely will it occur to someone to attack us. Serbia is modern, we want to progress, all these are the results of economic growth, a smart policy," said Vucic and added:
"They have high recruiting power, a huge number of people, one generation more than us, in 17 years there has been a difference in the average age. Demographics in Kosovo remains one of the key problems. We have the largest number of children in poor municipalities," said the president.
Attacks against Decani
Vucic said that Serbia is in a difficult situation when it comes to the Kosovo issue, and added that the protected zone of the Decani monastery was invaded today as well.
"These are things that bring additional unease and anxiety and we will fight against that in every place... Our economic opening is in our interest and in the interest of the Albanians," stated Vucic.
Economic opening in the interest of both peoples
Vucic said that people should understand that economic opening is in the interest of Serbia and the Albanians.
"Free flow of people and goods and capital is also in the interest. People should not have to wait for days, operating costs are huge. We would achieve huge savings. We also spoke about rail and air routes, but we can't make it so that it is under their control," he said.
Negative comments on social networks
"In the era of social networks where you have 3-5 million posts against you, you can't control it with anything. A Japanese said during some lecture that Europe has no leaders and that is why it's falling behind Japan and China. At that lecture, Sarkozy said, how are there supposed to be leaders when millions of tweets or posts appear on social networks, how to beat that," said Vucic, when asked about negative comments on social networks.
Tourism in Serbia
"Just look, we pleaded with people to stay and spend their summer in Serbia, and then they started talking about how expensive it is. It's expensive to spend a hundred euros in Serbia, but not abroad. What's foreign is always sweeter to us, but I don't think that's true. I am grateful to those people who chose Vrnjacka Banja, the Bor Lake, let those who chose Umag, for example, not hold it against me," he said.
"Not a penny from Telekom"
"We didn't sell either EPS or Telekom, we are asking to enter Kosovo and Metohija with Telekom, we asked to enter Albania, and they did not allow us to do that. We are number one with Telekom in Montenegro, and in second place as the most important operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And then you have politicians who want to undermine Telekom in Serbia with the thesis that it represents the political coffers of one party - I don't have a penny from Telekom," he said.
Opening of borders
Vucic said that he was glad that Montenegro decided to open its border with Serbia, because many people have weekend homes in Montenegro, while many Serbs live there.
Independent and strong Serbia
"My policy is Serbia, strong, independent, militarily neutral. To be anyone's servants - we will never. I said that in China, Russia and in the West," Vucic pointed out.
"It's great news for us that Germany is recovering, that's extremely important. We need Brose to accelerate, MTU to accelerate, that is important for our workers," he said.
Protests
"They have been protesting for years, and you never saw a single police officer. The gathering was never reported, and no one has been held responsible for that," the Serbian president said after footage was shown of a clash between the demonstrators and the police. As he stressed, the police came only when bandits broke into the Assembly.
"The only reason you saw the police in front of the Assembly is because they broke into the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, what business do they have in a protected facility. Nobody touched them for unlawfully entering a protected facility. Only then the police started to throw them out and establish public order and peace, no other state would allow so many concessions and allowances," he said.
As he stressed, he is glad that the public can see these videos, adding that perpetrators from both sides will be prosecuted. He said he was not satisfied with the efficiency of the judicial system.
A difficult period ahead
"We have difficult conversations ahead on September 2, the continuation of the dialogue on September 7, we need to show the highest degree of unity and I am not asking this of political parties, not even of my own. But I am asking the citizens of Serbia to understand how difficult our political position is, and that by handling that situation well economic progress has been enabled for us, and that is why it's important to show the highest possible degree of unity. People should not worry, there will be no difficult solutions for Serbia, without the citizens of Serbia deciding on that," said Vucic.
Forming a new Serbian government
As he said, he would propose to his party, the SNS, and to everyone else, two concepts: one is a simple coalition with one political party, and the other, because of the overall situation and coronavirus, the global economic crisis and the Kosovo issue, would be to aim for another parliamentary election in a year and a half.
"I am definitely more in favor of the first concept. Some people said that Vucic is preparing and it's stupid to underestimate him, but we are taking things into account and taking care of everything and dealing with politics, not mathematics. We are watching what is happening in the world and in accordance with that, we will come up with a proposal that is the best for our country," he said.
(Telegraf.rs/Telegraf.co.uk)