Brnabic: Why do the UN Charter and the international legal order not apply to Serbia

The President of the National Assembly of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, emphasized today that the Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform in Stockholm focused precisely on the inviolability of territorial integrity and on the fact that internationally recognized borders are sacred, as well as the UN Charter, noting that this made her emotion even stronger – why is this not applied to Serbia.

Brnabic told reporters in Stockholm that she physically participated in the Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform for the first time.

"What stood out to me the most is that some words were spoken there that we would sign without hesitation. It is unbelievable that in every speech one could hear that the inviolability of territorial integrity and the internationally recognized borders of states are sacred, and that there is no reason or circumstance in which anyone should be allowed, in any way, by force or through an invented right, to endanger the territorial integrity of United Nations member states," Brnabic said.

She emphasized that the gathering stated that the most important things in the world are the UN Charter and the international legal order, and that if they are not respected, the world will return to an era of wars in which countries seize territories from one another.

"When you listen to that, you think – where is the respect for Serbia's territorial integrity, how and why is that not applied to us? How is it that in our case the UN Charter and the international legal order are not the most important? After this, I have even stronger thoughts and emotions about the injustice committed against our people, primarily in Kosovo and Metohija," Brnabic stressed.

She added that it would be useful to hear why these principles did not apply in the case of Serbia.

Brnabic also said that she had good and sincere meetings in Stockholm, including with the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Pere Joan Pons Sampietro.

"We are working intensively with the OSCE on reforms in the area of the rule of law. We discussed this and I hope he will visit Serbia soon," Brnabic said.

She added that she also had meetings with colleagues from the Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia – which, she noted, are more skeptical when it comes to supporting Serbia in its European integration.

"The reason for that is unresolved issues, because we have no communication with that region, but this will change with the opening of the embassy in Riga, which will cover the entire Baltic region. I hope the first steps will be taken by the end of the year," the parliament president announced.

Brnabic pointed out that she also had a very good conversation with the President of the Bundestag, Julia Klockner, about Serbia's reforms and European integration, and that she thanked her for her support.