Artificial attempt to put equation mark between Belgrade and Pristina: Djuric on the Quint statement

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, says Serbia would continue to pursue its internal and foreign policies guided by its own interests and those of its own people, both in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in other parts of the country.

He said this during an unscheduled press conference at the Serbian government called after a joint statement issued by the Quint countries, who earlier today called on Pristina and Belgrade to resume their dialogue as soon as possible.

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"If we are talking about an invitation to continue the dialogue, yes, it should be continued but when the tax (Pristina imposed on goods from Serbia) is abolished. The latest announcement clearly shows the tendency to artificially equalize - even though Pristina violates elementary principles, through taxes and international obligations - with the behavior Serbia has been forced to - preventing Kosovo from joining international institutions. Serbia is forced by the foreign policy behavior of the separatists in Pristina," Djuric said.

"On one hand, you have a clear violation of CEFTA and other basic principles of free trade, and on the other, you have a completely unlawful effort by Pristina to join international institutions. And then this is counted as being the same as Serbia's standing for, in line with the UN Charter and Resolution 1244, preventing anyone from carrying out the independence process outside of the dialogue," said the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

He said that Pristina institutions are making Serbia have to defend itself on the international scene, but that Serbia is successful in doing that today - and that Serbia has prevented the membership of the so-called Kosovo in nine international institutions, and succeeded in having many countries withdraw their recognition.

(Telegraf.rs)