Djuric: Serbia offers a hand of cooperation, but expects respect and an equal place

Summarizing the activities after the meeting of European foreign ministers from the "Friends of Western Balkans" informal group with partners from the Western Balkans, which was held in Göttweig, Austria, Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Djuric stated that the meetings with the ministers of foreign affairs of countries, the region and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, which took place in the incredible setting of the thousand-year-old monastery, were an opportunity to discuss regional cooperation and Serbia's European path.

"For us, this was a great opportunity to present Serbia's ambition to continue with the growth of the citizens’ standard of living, the accelerated development of infrastructure in our country, accelerated economic and overall social development until 2027, but also to send a clear message that Serbia does not expect any compromises, especially not rotten compromises, but an equal place at the table within the EU. With all due respect to different ideas, we do not think that we should be members of the second order and we also understand the graduality of the process", Djuric stressed.

The head of Serbian diplomacy underlined that this was also an opportunity to point out the tragic situation of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, about which, together with President Vucic and the team at the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, we continuously informed our interlocutors within the EU.

The Minister said that this is done with a clear desire to have an urgent reaction to pressures that were going on for several years, resulting in departure and the de facto silent persecution of our people.

Speaking about today's event, the Minister pointed out that he had a number of meetings, and that he met with Slovak and Czech colleagues, as well as with Croatian and Slovenian ministers and with ministers from Montenegro.

"It was a great pleasure for me that at the end I had an extensive and meaningful meeting with High Representative Borrell, with whom I later took a tour of the beautiful monastery. I believe that we have sent a strong, positive message that Serbia is a country that extends a hand of cooperation, that has a sense of self-respect as an old European nation, an old European civilization, and that as such wants an equal place at the table, being ready to do a lot, but also demanding respect and an equal place for itself”, Djuric concluded.