Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic stated for Italian daily “la Repubblica” that “Kosovo presents focal point of instability in the Balkan region,” B92 reports.
Dacic added that Belgrade “put up great efforts into the dialogue while Pristina constantly undermines it”, pointing out that “Pristina’s authorities do not want compromise”.
When asked how dangerous is the current situation pertaining to the decision of banning all Serbian officials from entering Kosovo, even in the places with Serbian minority, that afterwards Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj proclaimed as fake news, Dacic stated that this is “a senseless decision that annuls all the efforts for dialogue resumption that would lead to reaching political agreement”.
Dacic went on saying that Pristina’s move on establishing Kosovo armed forces breached all international agreements, but this was “only a small part of their destructive activities”.
“What about 100% import tariffs imposed on Serbian and Bosnian goods? This is a trade ban, eradicated in civilized world for centuries. International community had condemned this measure, demanding its abolishing, but the tariffs remain in force for the last seven months. Pristina hadn’t fulfilled any obligation within the dialogue under EU auspices, among others, this is establishing Community of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija (KiM)… We are afraid that their next move might be exerting violence against the Serbs on KiM and their properties”, Dacic said.
The journalist expressed concern as to how dangerous such tensions might be for the fragile peace on the Balkans and in Europe, and Dacic responded that “Kosovo presents focal point of instability in the Balkan region”.
“After the wars waged in the nineties, region faced with reconciliation process and all the states are going in the same direction, towards the EU accession. The only black hole in the region is Kosovo and Metohija, where local Albanian political elites do not show desire for reaching a compromise. Serbia is not their partner in such destructive attitude, on the contrary. We hope for the solution, we refrain from reacting to Pristina’s moves, although we have many reasons for that”, Dacic concluded.
He added that “Serbia shows great maturity and is highly committed to the dialogue and a search for compromise, which is Serbia’s strength, not weakness”.
When asked whether Serbia demands involvement on the part of USA, Russia, EU and China in order to prevent escalation of conflicts, and whether this poses a risk to the members of KFOR, headed by Italians, Dacic responded that “it is absolute priority to demand from Pristina to revoke its destructive decisions, to turn to dialogue and be ready for compromise”.
“EU and USA are specially in the position to make a difference, it all depends on their willingness. On the other hand, every single day without dialogue increases the risk of the new one-sided adventures by Pristina, that would be dangerous if not stopped on time. Based on the past experience, it is known that Kosovo Albanians resort to violence when they want to achieve goals at all costs, and this is a huge risk for the international missions such as KFOR, not only for the local Serbian community”, Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic concluded.
See at: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2019&mm=07&dd=09&nav_id=106975
