Dacic: Regardless of protests Serbia's position on state issues will be firm

Photo: Tanjug/Vladimir Sporcic

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Ivica Dacic said today that there is a synchronization between the events on the internal political scene and what Prime Minister of Pristina's provisional institutions Albin Kurti is doing regarding the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija.

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"For sure, they will try to cause some new incidents, to escalate. And then to try to de-escalate. And that's how we go round and round and they constantly accuse Belgrade of obstruction. I think it should be clear to everyone that it is Belgrade that is the constructive factor in all of this," Dacic told TV Prva.

Dacic assessed that Pristina's refusal to implement what was signed ten years ago (Brussels Agreement) calls into question the credibility of the European Union as an institution that should mediate in the dialogue.

"We are not ready for this kind of blackmail. That is why it is important to say that Serbia, regardless of all these protests that are happening to weaken its position, will continue to have a firm position when it comes to national and state issues. There are no deviations and no giving up on our state policy," said Dacic.

The first deputy prime minister stressed that we are witnessing the fact that, when there is instability in Serbia, it is assumed that the state is not strong enough to respond to pressure it is facing.

Dacic recalled that in January and February EU institutions have certain restrictions in connection to EU elections.

"Probably, sometime in February, there will be a concentration of pressure on us in order to do as much as possible regarding Kosovo. Because their institutions effectively stop working after that, until the elections in the EU are over. It would be good if we go into the coming period with political stability. This means having constituted state bodies, a defined political majority, which I hope will happen at all levels," said Dacic.

Commenting on Kurti's accusations that the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, is behind the setting up of civil protection in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, Dacic said that these are organizations that underwent transformation in order to form the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), that these accusations are fraudulent and that nothing will calm Pristina down unless they become members of the United Nations.

"The essence is any de facto or de jure recognition and membership of Kosovo in the United Nations and other specialized agencies within the United Nations system. And that, I am certain, will not happen," Dacic concluded.

(Telegraf.rs)