Serbian PM comments on statements of her Albanian counterpart (RTS)
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the sole goal of Edi Rama's latest statements is political spin, and blaming Serbia for all the unreasonable decisions made in Pristina, RTS reports.
Reacting on statements Albanian PM Rama made in Croatia – who said that Serbia had "violated the CEFTA (free trade agreement) – Brnabic said she thought Rama was responsible but unfortunately was wrong.
"I think that the job of a government, if one is responsible, which I thought Edi Rama was, is to deal with concrete things and truths that will contribute to the quality of the citizens' lives in the future," the Prime Minister said.
As she pointed out, without the stability of the region, there will be no safe and stable country in that region. Brnabic added that she "does not like to respond to completely bold-faced lies and groundless claims" - but did it this this time, considering the difficult situation.
Brnabic said that her first thought was that over in Pristina, "they should have agreed on what their explanation for the introduction of the (100 percent) tax on products from central Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina would be - and then stick to that explanation, instead of changing it every week."
She recalled that the first explanation was that the tax was the answer to Serbia preventing so-called Kosovo from joining Interpol.
"I think we all heard that, both Serbia and other countries, the EU and the international community," the Prime Minister said.
But, according to her," when they saw this made no sense and was not holding water" they changed the explanation into accusing Serbia of having violated the CEFTA agreement.
"Let's agree on why the taxes have been imposed, so that we can respond to it. Is it because of Interpol, or because the CEFTA agreement has been violated by Serbia?," Brnabic asked.
She added that she found it incredible that Edi Rama "went a step further to say that Pristina had complained about the violation by Serbia, but received no reaction from the other side."
"If Pristina did complain, please show us this complaint. This is either black or white, there is no gray zone," Brnabic pointed out, stressing that the CEFTA agreement is clear and unambiguous and that there is an official formal complaint process.
The prime minister also said that Serbia complained (about Pristina's taxes) on November 27 by sending an official request to the CEFTA Secretariat.
Brnabic added that if it turns out that there is no evidence that Pristina had also complained (prior), then Edi Rama has tried to deliberately deceive the public in the region and in the EU.