Vucic: We lost sovereignty in 1999, Brussels agreement bought peace

It is important, he said, that citizens understand what Serbia went through in the previous decades

President Aleksandar Vucic pointed out last tonight that Serbia effectively lost its sovereignty in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, that Serbia's biggest mistake was transferring the talks on Kosovo and Metohija from the UN to the EU, and that the Brussels agreement, such as it is, bought peace for the last 10 years.

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It is important, he said, that the citizens understand what Serbia went through in the previous decades, in the last 10 years, and in the last few months, regarding Kosovo and Metohija.

"In 1999, we effectively lost sovereignty over Kosovo and Metohija. Without the right to an Army, only in local areas in the north we could have a part of the police. Everything else was lost a long time ago," Vucic told TV Pink.

Then, he recalls, the pogrom of 2004 followed, and then the declaration of independence in 2008.

"Before that, both the DOS authorities and the West were convincing us - standards before status... I guess those standards were confirmed with the burning of churches, murders and persecution on March 17... And, for that, they were rewarded with independence, when 85 Western countries and their satellites in different ways recognized Kosovo, while our people were arguing about who will continue to rule, that one doesn't pour patriotism into a tractor...," said Vucic.

Then, he says, came the verdict of the ICJ to the wrong question and just as bad - our decision to ask for the talks to be moved from the UN to the EU.

He says that he told Miroslav Lajcak and other EU representatives to their faces that it was the biggest mistake that Serbia did that.

"Then the most difficult negotiations followed in 2012-2013. After 1998 and 1999, those were the biggest threats and pressures. However, we somehow handled the Brussels agreement, which we know is not something the Serbs want to see, but with which you buy peace. In the last 10 years, we have had peace, the fastest economic growth in the region, in the last two in the whole of Europe," pointed out the president of Serbia.

Stating that in the first 10 months of this year, Serbia achieved greater inflow of direct foreign investments than last year, that wages and pensions increased, but not also the level of public debt, he said that all this would not have been possible if it had not been for that period of peace and stability, adding that he often "cannot explain it even in his family."

"We had peace and stability and could concentrate on good things. To save children for the future, we don't have children to throw away," said Vucic.

He also touched on the population census, stating that the data will be better than originally expected, and that it will show that the country has about 6.5 (million) people, while the estimate was about 6.1 million.

"This means that the wave of (e)migration was much smaller, some people started to return," said Vucic and added that the birth rate is still a problem, but that this year one percent more babies were born, while there have been less deaths.

(Telegraf.rs)