Jevtic: With Sorensen, the dialogue will develop similarly, more dependent on Washington

President of the Strpce municipality and vice-president of the Serbian List, Dalibor Jevtic, believes that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, with the arrival of Danish diplomat Peter Sorensen as the new EU Special Envoy replacing Miroslav Lajcak, will continue to develop in a similar manner as before. He adds that in this regard, it will depend much more on what Washington does than on what Sorensen himself will do, reports RTV.

Jevtic told Tanjug that the advantages of Sorensen include his experience in this region and his familiarity with it, as well as the relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

However, as Jevtic adds, just as in the case of Lajcak, whose mandate ends on January 31, the actions of the new special envoy will depend on the 27 EU member states.

"The member states will set the framework within which the new envoy will operate. I think the dialogue will develop in a similar manner as it has so far, but to be completely realistic, when we talk about the dialogue, much more will depend on what Washington does than what Sorensen himself will do," Jevtic stated.

He adds that everything that happens within the dialogue in the coming period will also be a result of changes within the international political arena.

"As for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, I believe that certain things and circumstances will change in the context of what will be a priority for both Washington and Brussels, when we talk about their foreign policy," he said.

Regarding the Serbian List, as Jevtic pointed out, it will always act and work together with official Belgrade in the context of what is the policy and interest of both the state of Serbia and the Serbian people living in Kosovo.

"As we have always done, we will support the dialogue. Dialogue is important. Without dialogue, it seems to me that we will only have problems on the ground. But we all must understand that in this dialogue, there is not only the interest of Belgrade or only the interest of Pristina, but there is another interest, the interest of Washington, the interest of Berlin, Paris," he added.

Jevtic emphasized that neither the Serbian List, official Belgrade, nor President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic accept all the aspects of the French-German proposal, and President Vucic has clearly outlined the things that are unacceptable for Serbia and the Serbian people in Kosovo.

He reminds that one of Pristina's obligations from the dialogue is to form the Community of Serb Municipalities, and that this has been awaited for many years since the first Brussels Agreement.

"The Community of Serb Municipalities is something that is at the center of the agreement in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and something that has not been fulfilled to this day. And because it has not been implemented and fulfilled, we are in a situation where we have many other problems. Today, we are in a situation because Pristina did not want to fulfill its obligations from the dialogue as per the Brussels Agreement, as well as all other agreements we had after that, we have and are facing a problem on the ground called occupation and usurpation of power in the north of Kosovo and Metohija," stressed Jevtic.

Besides all these agreements, if we talk about obligations, according to Jevtic, there are also those guarantees provided by both Brussels and Washington, which have not been implemented.

He emphasized that even today, many Serbs are in Pristina's prisons precisely because someone misused the trust and word given, and this has created a different situation in which Serbs in Kosovo live today, especially those in the north.

Regarding the question about the campaign for the upcoming elections in Kosovo, scheduled for February 9, Jevtic says that within the Serbian community, direct conversations with people are taking place, discussing how, through political action in the coming period, everything will be done to change things in a more positive direction.

Concerning the Albanian parties, Jevtic notes that there is an intensified rhetoric, primarily exhibited by the Self-Determination Movement led by Albin Kurti.
"Kurti is running a dirty campaign against everyone on the topic that interests him the most, which is how and what he has done to expel the Serbian people from these territories, and this is what he boasts about since in these four years of his governance he has nothing else to present, no infrastructure successes in projects, no successes in the economy, and he only engages in terror against the Serbian people," Jevtic said.

According to him, and based on the latest forecasts, it is almost certain that Kurti will not have the opportunity this time to win the same percentage as in the previous parliamentary elections and form a government on his own.

However, as he says, this could also be part of the pre-election rhetoric and campaign, and when the votes are counted, anything is possible.

"I wouldn't rule out anything, except for the fact that there is an impression that Kurti is acting as if he does not want to win, counting on several things, among them that Richard Grenell will be there, but also because he does not want to be under any pressure to implement what he himself agreed to, which is the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities," Jevtic stated.