Vucic: Serbians prefer frozen conflict over Kosovo

Tanjug/Rade Prelić

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Foreign Policy magazine that he most people in Serbia prefer a frozen conflict in Kosovo over any single solution.

“I do understand [the] necessity for a real dialogue, and I do understand the necessity of resolving the problem, which is not easy for me to say because if you ask the vast majority of people in Serbia, they would prefer a frozen conflict to any single solution. I don’t belong to that vast majority,” he said in the Foreign Policy interview.

“Hopefully they’re going to revoke tariffs, and that will happen because of US pressure on them,” he said adding that the the two sides should focus on everything they achieved in the European Union-mediated negotiating process. “I don’t see how the entire process should end, what the substance would be of a possible final settlement that someone might propose to us. I’m looking forward to establishing better economic ties, to when we’ll start understanding each other better. And we need a dialogue to achieve that. We need more talks,” he said.

Asked if Belgrade’s campaign to revoke recognition of Kosovo would be ended once the tariffs are revoked, Vucic said that “you cannot be rewarded because you impose tariffs against Serbia, you cannot be rewarded for saying “and now we need some concessions from your side.” “We just need to come back to the same positions that we had before they imposed those tariffs,” Vucic said.

He said that a solution to the Kosovo issue “has to be done in a way that would be a defeat for both sides, in order for it to be a small win for both sides”. “We both should get guarantees for a much better, much better future,” the Serbian president said, adding that official Belgrade is fully committed to working with the EU to find a solution. “I would say our Western partners should act jointly in all this. We cannot have two negotiating processes, one with Thaci in Washington and another one with Kurti in Brussels, right? You don’t know who to speak to,” he added.

Asked about Serbia’s relationship with Russia on one side and the EU and US on the other, Vucic said that “it’s not about balancing”. “Just to analyze our situation, we have the problem of Kosovo. Who hasn’t recognized Kosovo so far? Do we need their support during our negotiating process with Pristina, with the UN Security Council? Yes, we do. I still think that it’s inevitable that we are on our EU path, and that’s what I say even to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin holding press conferences together with him”, Vucic said.

Asked about the concerns about attacks on the media raised by Reporters Without Borders and the Freedom House rating which was downgraded from Free to Partly Free, Vucic said that “hugely harmed Serbia’s image” but added that the Serbian authorities did everything that the EU asked them to do, including the drafting of a media strategy and regulations. He also denied inciting public dissatisfaction with an N1 reporter.