Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Đurić: EU should plainly say if they want us in or not

Marko Đurić, Director of the Office for Kosovo-Metohija, stated a new amendment has been added to the draft platform for Chapter 35 of the country's EU pre-accession talks which additionally aggravates conditions for Serbia's EU integration, and that the EU must therefore plainly say if they want us or not.

"Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić is very seriously thinking about how to regard the future of the (Belgrade-Priština) dialogue process, the future of the political life in the country, and perhaps even the government itself," Đurić told Radio Television of Serbia late on Tuesday, during the informal meeting between the PM Aleksandar Vučić and the PISG PM Isa Mustafa hosted by HR Federika Mogherini.

Đurić said that the amendments are used to exert additional pressure on Serbia in an attempt to force Serbia into directly or indirectly recognizing the independence of Kosovo. Đurić added that amendment has been proposed by Germany, and supported by Great Britain and Croatia.

Đurić said that in the coming days, the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet will engage in intense discussion about what to do next, and shared his impression that many in the EU do not understand what is going on and the scale of the problem ahead.

“There were many who did not believe that, when faced with a resolution on Srebrenica, we would ask help from Russia. We did and we won, averting a very harmful resolution labeling us as genocidal nation. Many also thought that we would not impose countermeasures when Croatia raised a border blockade but we were able to cope out of that as well,” Đurić stated.

He said that the EU should state plainly if they want us or not, since what they are presenting now has very poor connotations on the desires and intentions of Serbia’s EU accession.

Đurić further said that Belgrade wants to continue talks with Priština.

"We have to negotiate for the benefit of all citizens, but don’t expect either the Prime Minister or the Serbian delegation to work against its own people, because we won’t," Đurić said.

Asked whether there is hope that the contents of the paper would be ameliorated, Đurić said that our delegation would not be in Brussels if it did not believe that the talks were the sensible thing to do.

"But it's not fair to confront Serbia with new conditions at this point in time, when we are dealing with reforms in the country. To do that to someone you claim is your friend and whom you want in your family is simply not fair," Đurić said.

In her press release, the High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the head of European diplomacy, Federica Mogherini stated that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa reiterated their commitment to implementing all previously achieved agreements, particularly those adopted on 25 August in Brussels.

"The two prime ministers had an open discussion on the current situation in the dialogue, in particular with regard to the implementation of the agreements concluded on 25 August," reads the statement twitted by Mogherini's Spokeswoman, Maja Kocijančič after the meeting.

Mogherini hosted an informal dinner for Vučić and Mustafa in the framework of the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština, facilitated by the EU, the statement added.