Dacic on voting in CoE: Serbia will reciprocate those who do not respect its integrity

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said that the procedure had been violated in the Council of Europe, adding that Ukraine had unpleasantly surprised us by its abstention during the voting for the admission of Kosovo, stating that Serbia would behave reciprocally towards countries that did not respect sovereign integrity, RTS reports.

Dacic stated that this restraint would also affect Serbia's further attitudes.

"Concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina, was there ever a time in my speech that we did not say the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Now when someone asks, we will abstain. So why would we be in favor of the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they vote with abstention," Dacic asked.

He says that the sequence of events shows that it was not about a normal procedure, but only about Pristina being rewarded for something.

"Is this a reward for not forming the CSM for 10 years? How come the Council of Europe has not stated that the CSM had to be formed, because Catherine Ashton signed it on behalf of the EU," Dacic asked.

He noted that the statute of the Council of Europe had been violated, because, as he states, something that is not a state cannot be a member of the Council of Europe.

"On the other hand, the legal interpretation of the same man is different today compared to 10 years ago," Dacic points out.

He states that it is obvious that Germany promised Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, that they would reward him for "constructiveness".

"Here it shows who the favorite of some Western countries is - in this case, the Quint. They broke a number of rules, and Iceland was against it for a long time. They wanted to leave it to Latvia for the next presidency. Then they asked for an urgent meeting with the only item on the agenda. That Committee of Ministers met with only one item on the agenda, and it never happened that it was convened in a week when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was held," Dacic said.

He notes that Kurti conditioned them with alleged constructiveness and that he wants to discuss the CSM, which is "ridiculous, hypocritical, and rude".

"In the discussion itself, no one spoke up, only Albania, which proposed it. They are ashamed of what they proposed, they are ashamed and fence themselves off, because maybe tomorrow a part of a country will be proposed for the Council of Europe," Dacic says.

As he says, there are 46 members in total, but Russia left on its own, and Belarus is not a member.

"We have to thank Hungary and we consider them firm friends. Of those countries, 34 recognize Kosovo, and here 13 countries did not vote in favor, and 33 were in favor. I want to thank Hungary in particular. It is a great thing that someone has done, someone who recognized Kosovo, votes against it," Dacic said.

He also thanked Azerbaijan and Georgia.

"It is an honor and we are deeply grateful. It is very important that Spain, Cyprus, and Romania remained consistent. On the other hand, I must say that Ukraine has unpleasantly surprised us. This whole story is based on territorial integrity when it comes to Ukraine. You know with what effort we vote for all the resolutions, to condemn the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in all the resolutions around the world, and when it comes to our territorial integrity they abstained. Foreign policy is based on reciprocity. This will certainly affect our views in the future on the territorial integrity of those countries. This will affect our attitudes going forward," Dacic points out.

Armenia, he says, did not participate in the vote.

"We have friendly relations with them, but we are very surprised by this because they know how many problems there are and what territorial integrity means," Dacic said.

He states that Montenegro could have at least refrained.

"We have to act reciprocally here as well. Montenegro voted for the admission of Kosovo. They will need our vote at some point, they certainly won't be able to count it," Dacic said.

He also asked why some countries had been restrained and whether they recognized Kosovo or not.

"This is a question for Greece and Slovakia as well. The minister from Greece was in honor of President Vucic. The president of Greece spoke about the fact that they did not recognize Kosovo. This is about territorial integrity and sovereignty. Now we need to protect territorial integrity more than Ukraine or Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we destroy our interests because we destroy relations with Russia, and they vote with abstention. I don't understand that," Dacic said.

He says that both Greece and Slovakia surprised him.

"But I can't say that this is the first time we have encountered it. This is a question of principle. If you are against it, then they are against it. There are manipulations that this is somehow foreseen, someone even mentions it in the Brussels agreement, but that doesn't matter. Now they also mention this Ohrid agreement, where the rude ones say that it is based on that. Should we applaud and say okay? Well, no, we have to defend our national interests. This is about the fact that the first thing in the Ohrid Agreement is the CSM. If there is no such thing, there are no other agreements either," Dacic notes.

According to him, it is a classic manipulation and a lie.

"The international community estimated that they should give a positive impulse to Kurti. It is the height of hypocrisy. And what did Serbia get? That's why I think that when it comes to those foreign political relations, those gangster principles - I'm going to shoot you in the head, but it's nothing personal, it doesn't apply. In international relations, there is only reciprocity. As someone treats us, so we will treat them, period," Dacic emphasizes.

He says that the CoE summit is being prepared in Reykjavík and that "they invested so much in the summit, they wanted unity around Ukraine, and they introduced divisions because of Kosovo".

"For the first time, there is disunity regarding the admission of someone. That has never happened. There is a declaration in which it is said that the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Moldova should be respected. We will introduce an amendment regarding the territorial integrity of Serbia. Why would we do that, when that document speaks only ill of Russia? Why would we do that, and Ukraine and Moldova abstain when it comes to our territorial integrity? If that amendment is not accepted, there is no voting for the declaration on the Council of Europe, and it cannot be adopted without consensus," Dacic notes.

The conclusion, he says, will certainly be based on what Vucic talked about yesterday.

"We should continue the dialogue in search of our common interests, and not the dictates of what is in the interest of Pristina alone, because then it is not a dialogue. Thursday is the session of the UN Security Council on Kosovo. I will start today, and there is a possibility that the president will make a decision to participate on behalf of Serbia, but he will make a decision on that during the day," Dacic concluded.