Selaković: Priština is not interested in the agreement implementation

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković has said today that Belgrade must be prepared for every type of scenario of Priština, since the deadline from the Washington Agreement referring to the moratorium for lobbying for new recognitions of so-called ”Kosovo” and withdrawal of recognitions expired.

Hosted by TV Prva, Selaković expressed his conviction that state leadership would be capable of passing the right decision on this issue and everyone would follow it.

Responding to the question how Belgrade would respond if Priština starts lobbying for the membership in international organizations, Selaković said that we knew what we were to do in such situation and that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had talked about that.

Selaković reminded that Belgrade had approached to the Washington Agreement as a conscientious party and someone who wants, through the dialog by peaceful and political means, to look for compromising solution which would be realistic, implementable and sustainable and which would bring Belgrade and Priština in the situation to take some steps which are not easy, but which lead to a stable solution.

As he stated, since the change of the government, Priština had not shown interest in the observance of the agreements reached in past ten years and it resulted in the situation where the process of the dialog currently was.

Minister Selaković said that Belgrade implemented its obligations emphasizing that it had been more than 100 months since the Brussels Agreement which stipulated the obligation of Priština to establish the Community of Serbian Municipalities and that Priština said more frequently in public and unambiguously that it would not do it.

“We will weigh well, I am convinced in the wisdom of our leadership and President Vučić. A year ago, when the Washington Agreement was signed we saw who our President is, he was capable of rejecting the ultimatum to recognize the so-called independence of Kosovo, but who discussed on other manners to reach normalization”, says the Serbian Foreign Minister.

He said that all reached agreements in the past ten years, including the Washington Agreement, had provided us with a decade of peace, and that negotiators had been given the opportunity to try and reach something in that period.

“The agreements brought us a much stronger credibility of Serbia in the world, because it is Belgrade which was stated for decades as the cause of the problem. Now Belgrade is no longer that, Belgrade has the leadership which pursues different politics”, says Minister Selaković.

He is also convinced that many items of the agreement will not remain a dead letter and that Belgrade should adhere to the signed and draw attention to Priština’s failure to fulfill its obligations.

Ministar Selaković said that Kosovo and Metohija would also be among the topics of conversation with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel during her upcoming visit to Serbia.

Commenting on the tensions in the eve of the enthronement of Metropolitan Joanikije at Cetinje, Selaković expressed his concerns, but also his desire to believe that there would be no incidents or riots.

“If there is anyone who disagrees with that, they have the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction in a calm and civilized manner. Every religion proclaims peace, which is the case with Orthodox religion and it is important to have as the atmosphere of such an event as the enthronement in the spirit of peace and with messages of peace”, says Minister Selaković.

For us, he says, it is of utmost importance to preserve peace and stability, to have a peaceful atmosphere of the enthronement.

“We will see if it will be the case. For us, it is important to have and build good and partner relations with Montenegro, to cooperate in the fields of mutual interest”, said Selaković.