Dacic: Von der Leyen's statement on recognizing Kosovo was given to please Pristina

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, assessed today that the statement by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that Serbia should de facto recognize Kosovo had been made to please Pristina, RTV reports.

"That term does not exist in the acts and documents of the European Union or any other related to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue; it is nowhere written. The word was used to please Pristina, to make it appear that they gained something", Dacic told Tanjug when asked to clarify the terms de facto (informally), mentioned by Von der Leyen, and de jure, meaning formally, which were used when discussing the recognition of Kosovo's independence.

Dacic emphasized that President Aleksandar Vucic had repeatedly stated that any recognition of Kosovo, whether formal or informal, was unacceptable for Serbia.

"She tried to explain it here by suggesting that we could, through certain actions, show that we agree that it is a special entity, but this interpretation is unacceptable", Dacic said, adding that the US Special Envoy Gabriel Escobar also stated that this was not a dialogue about recognition but about the normalization of relations.

As he added, the EU had put its integrity and credibility on the line by pushing Belgrade to sign the Brussels Agreement, which had been extremely difficult for Serbia and had been, in principle, acceptable as long as the CSM was formed.

"If that is not happening (the formation of the CSM), it is illusory to even discuss any other points, and that is the essence", Dacic said, adding that the implementation of what had been signed in Brussels ten years ago was a precondition for everything currently being discussed.

When asked about the meaning of all EU countries accepting the Ohrid Agreement, which stated that Serbia should recognize Kosovo's symbols, he said that they were not well-informed about the details, and it was a misconception that five countries that had not recognized Kosovo's independence would change their stance.

"There was a slight confusion that now all countries support every point and formulation. The Foreign Affairs Council did not go into details; they gave their support to the efforts to find a solution", he said and added that some countries recognized passports but not Kosovo, and Serbia had similar dilemmas regarding some other territories in the world.

"That's the essence, meaning normalization of relations without prejudicing the status issue. This has always been the goal of negotiations in Brussels", he said and reminded that the Prime Minister of the Kosovo institutions, Albin Kurti, did not accept or understand this because he believed it was a path to recognizing Kosovo.

Dacic also discussed the strategic priority of Serbia's foreign policy and national policy - EU membership. He added that Serbia had never seriously considered membership in other regional and Eurasian organizations.

"We are in the heart of Europe, and it is practically impossible to think about something else, even about BRICS, which is acceptable to our people because it is made up of countries with a positive attitude towards Serbia", Dacic said and added that BRICS didn't even exist as an organization.

Regarding questions related to events in Israel and Palestine, the Minister pointed out that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stemmed from a centuries-old dispute and that Serbia condemned civilian casualties and strived to remain neutral.

Serbia has taken a principled stance on the relationship between Israel and Palestine, condemning terrorism and terrorist acts coming from Hamas, he said, and added that it was essential to understand what was happening with the Palestinians.

"The Palestinians are also divided into several political factions. Hamas is a faction that operates in Gaza and has almost no connection to the current Palestinian Authority", the head of Serbian diplomacy explained.

Dacic said that when talking about Serbia's stance on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, one should also consider the relationships of individual actors with Belgrade.

"Let's be honest, Israel has recognized Kosovo. We have recognized Palestine, and we did so based on a UN decision, so no one violated international law as in our case. Palestine has not recognized Kosovo, even though they are Muslims. So the relations are complex", Dacic said, warning that a large-scale conflict could erupt if the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas was not stopped.