Guyon: Economic and political cooperation with France positively impacts Serbia's position in Kosovo

Director of the Office for Public and Cultural Diplomacy in the Government of Serbia, Arno Guyon, ahead of the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Serbia, stated that Kosovo is indeed a topic that strains relations between France and Serbia. However, thanks to the friendship and personal relationship between President Aleksandar Vucic and President Macron, progress has been made.

"Thanks to this, for example, Pristina was not admitted to the Council of Europe in the previous period because Macron vetoed it. Why? Because Pristina does not respect what has been agreed upon and signed, unlike Serbia. Of course, unfortunately, we cannot expect a significant change in the foreign policy stance of the Republic of France towards Kosovo and Metohija, at least for now. But that does not mean we shouldn't cooperate on economic and political levels and in other areas. This certainly has a positive impact on our position in Kosovo and Metohija, where we can make at least some progress. It also affects the daily lives of our compatriots in Kosovo and Metohija. We should continue in this direction," Guyon said to Kosovo Online.

He also reminded that the cooperation between Serbia and France is long-standing, having experienced ups and downs, and that the friendship was actually born in the 19th century when many Serbian intellectuals lived and studied in France, while on the other hand, there were also French people who came to Serbia.

"That friendship, that cooperation reached its peak during World War I when the French and Serbs together broke through the Salonika front and, under the leadership of Franchet d'Esperey, reached Belgrade. At the end of the 20th century, unfortunately, there was a significant decline due to France's policy towards Serbia during the war in Bosnia and the bombing of Serbia. For 18 years, there were no visits from French presidents to Serbia, from December 2001, when French President Jacques Chirac came, until the visit of Emmanuel Macron in July 2019. A year earlier, in July 2018, Aleksandar Vucic visited Paris for the first time, and it was then that the strategic partnership signed in 2011 between France and Serbia was revived. Since then, this cooperation has taken on concrete forms, and we see that the volume of trade between Serbia and France is increasing," Guyon stated.

He highlighted that last year, the trade exchange amounted to more than 1.8 billion euros, with 80% of France's foreign investments in the Balkans going directly to Serbia, totaling around 1.3 billion euros.

"This trend of increase continues, especially in the fields of energy, environmental protection, sustainable development, and transport. Of course, this will be a topic during Macron's visit, particularly regarding the defense industry. It is extremely significant that President Macron is visiting Serbia for the second time and that relations between Serbia and France are developing. This benefits both countries and demonstrates once again that Serbia, which pursues an independent and freedom-loving policy, cooperates with everyone. In the past few months, we have had visits from Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and now President Emmanuel Macron. All of them have visited a small Serbia, perhaps in terms of population and area, but highly significant in a political sense, and this shows that we are on the right path, the path chosen by the citizens of Serbia and the path upheld by the government and the President of the Republic," Guyon concluded.