Starovic: Consensus on Kosovo and Metohija is possible with Scholz, as it was with Merkel

State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nemanja Starovic said that tomorrow's visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is of great importance for Serbia.

Starovic told RTS that the topics of conversation between President Aleksandar Vucic and Chancellor Scholz will be the economy and investments, but also major political topics, including the issue of Kosovo and Metohija and the war in Ukraine.

According to Starovic, Scholz's visit will not be long, but it will be very meaningful, and the most important meetings are certainly planned with the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.

Starovic said that after that, Scholz will go to Pristina and, apparently, in the late evening hours, will meet again in Thessaloniki with President Vucic and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic.

Speaking about the topics to be discussed, Starovic said that the most represented ones will primarily be the economy and economic cooperation.

"It is well known that Germany is our number one foreign trade partner. The situation is similar when we talk about direct foreign investments," stated Starovic.

He stressed that it was logical that political cooperation with Germany is of increasing importance.

"I believe that at least some of those most important planned investments will be the topic of the meeting between Scholz and Vucic, and certainly that major political topics will be on the agenda," Starovic stressed.

He pointed out that there is one big topic on which there is fundamental disagreement, and that is the issue of Kosovo and Metohija.

"All that taken into account, I am moderately optimistic and moderately hopeful that we will be able to find the minimum common ground, at least like we had during the 16 years of Angela Merkel's rule, which boils down to the joint opinion that peace and stability in the Balkans need to be preserved, despite different political visions," said Starovic.

He stressed that he believes that this type of consensus can be established with Scholz and that it will be one of the topics of conversation.

Starovic added that all officials coming from EU countries constantly emphasize the expectation that Serbia would align itself with the common foreign policy, i.e., join, on a practical level, sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia.

Starovic said that Serbia's position is clear and principled and was defined by the conclusions of the Council for National Security, which were adopted a day after the start of the war in Ukraine. He pointed out that Serbia adheres to these conclusions because they define a coordinate system within which it makes foreign policy decisions on a daily basis.

According to Starovic, setting principles and values aside, imposing sanctions against Russia would bring far more damage to Serbia than to the Russian partners. He stressed he believes that Scholz is able to understand this argument.

(Telegraf.rs)