Starovic: The EU gun is not empty, we must be united

The State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense of Serbia, Nemanja Starovic, said today that it is no longer possible to talk about the Franco-German plan, but it is a plan supported by 27 EU member states, among them the five that did not recognize Kosovo, so there should not be an emotional approach, because "the gun of the Union is not empty", which was seen in the case of Russia and the speed with which, despite the losses they are suffering, European companies quickly withdrew from that market.

Starovic said for RTS that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic delivered several important messages last night, one of which is that there is nothing nice and pleasant for Serbia in the EU document.

The second, he adds, is that 27 member states stand behind the plan, and the third most important, that Serbia is facing fairly open and clear threats.

"We must be careful, we must not get into a situation where, due to a reaction that would be emotional, we get an economically devastated Serbia in less than a year, which would no longer be able to protect the Serbs. We don't need an emotional approach in this situation, but we have to weigh all the consequences. This does not mean that we have to accept something that represents national humiliation, but we should stay at the table and accept what is the most painless solution for us," said Starovic.

He pointed out that with the example of economic sanctions against Russia, it was possible to see how companies from the EU quickly withdrew from the Russian market, despite the losses they are suffering.

"The EU gun is not empty," Starovic warns.

He said that President Vucic's announcement that he will invite representatives of the parliamentary parties to a meeting shows the severity of the challenges Serbia is facing.

"The weight of the challenge requires a unique response, because only it can be the solution," he is convinced.

He pointed out that the attacks on Serbs are proof of the heated atmosphere that Pristina is creating.

"For several months now, we have had a continuous presence of special police units in the north of Kosovo, who assert themselves and take over the work that should be done by the patrol police. That's a recipe for disaster. We see that incidents like this can happen every day. In order to eliminate such a danger, the special forces must withdraw from the north," Starovic requested.

He pointed out that Albin Kurti wants to provoke some kind of conflict, considering that the geopolitical situation is in his favor and that NATO will always stand behind him at any cost, regardless of who provoked the conflict.

"I'm not sure if his calculation is correct, but the situation is inflammable," said Starovic.

Regarding Pristina's intention to join the Council of Europe, he said that Serbia has no mechanisms to prevent the clear intention of the sponsors of Kosovo's independence, but that does not mean that Belgrade will not fight.

"We will fight, we will not accept such an outcome," said Starovic.

He said that the international community is in a hurry to make it happen due to geopolitical circumstances.

Such tendencies, he adds, existed even a year ago, but the beginning of the war in Ukraine leads to the acceleration of all the processes that existed before that, and in this case, the desire is to remove the pebble in the shoe of the Kosovo recognizer by the fact that Serbia will also agree to explicitly to give consent for the affirmation of the international recognition of Pristina.

When it comes to the UN, he is convinced that it is clear to everyone in Brussels and Pristina, no matter how much they want it, that Kosovo's membership is difficult to achieve as long as Russia and China are in the Security Council of the world organization.

"It is their desire that, by Serbia's signature on such a plan, that we will not prevent accession to international organizations, to give a sufficient reason for the five EU member states, which did not recognize the independence of Pristina, to do so, which would open the way to membership in the EU and NATO, regardless of the fact that membership in the UN remains elusive. This is unfavorable for us and we have to warn," Starovic stressed.

He assessed that Serbia is faced with the harshest approach in diplomatic practice, stating that already in the second sentence, the international envoys, at the last meeting with President Vucic, presented threats.

"On the international level, this is a harsh approach and proof of how difficult the situation is," he stated.