Brnabic: Major diplomatic success in Tirana; Serbia confirmed sovereignty

Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic stated that thanks to the President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia had achieved a major diplomatic success at the Summit in Tirana today, as the term "country" had been removed from the Declaration text, effectively confirming Serbia's sovereignty in very challenging circumstances.

"Practically, if that term had been adopted, our Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija would have appeared there as a separate country participating in the Summit. That's why President Vucic insisted and succeeded in persuading to change that, to remove that part. So, on an important day, at an important Summit, we removed that term from all documents and the Declaration and confirmed our sovereignty, which is a huge thing in difficult circumstances," Brnabic said for TV Prva.

She noted that thanks to Serbia and Vucic, the part about the necessity of imposing sanctions on Russia and the "malign Russian influence" had also been removed.

"We do not see that influence in Serbia, nor in the Balkans. If we talk about the influence of foreign countries, then we can talk about the malign influence of various foreign countries... When Vucic began to elaborate on that topic, it seemed that others found it easier to remove everything," the Prime Minister remarked.

Brnabic emphasized that this represented a significant diplomatic success for Serbia.

"A great diplomatic success and tremendous courage of Aleksandar Vucic. To tell such an assembly that something is unacceptable for us and that we will not agree with it is not easy at all, it's even one of the hardest things he has managed to do recently," Brnabic said.

In response to the observation that Members of the European Parliament are urging Serbia to urgently align with EU foreign policy and impose sanctions on Russia, Brnabic noted that the pressure on the country was extremely strong, growing, and would become even stronger.

"Certain Members of the European Parliament act in line with their own interests, they did so in 2022 and 2023, and they had much worse things to say about Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Kosovo and Metohija... so this is the least we could hear, and it's not new. However, it will be remembered how each fought and still does for Serbia and the country's interests, as well as what Vucic managed to achieve today in Tirana," the Prime Minister added.