Vucic: The CSM is important for the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and Serbia

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that there would be many things that would not be easy and that Serbia, if the Albanians accepted to form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, would have to do, stressing that they would not hide any of these things from the people.

Vucic, during his address to the citizens before the meetings with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Ohrid, said that in the end, the result for Serbia would be good.

"If the Albanians accept, and I doubt that they will form the CSM, there will be things that are not easy and simple for us and I will not hide any of them from people, but in the end, the result for our country will be good and that is the most important thing and that is why I call on the citizens to be smart enough and wise," Vucic said.

He emphasized that the CSM was a very important thing for Serbia and the Serbs.

He indicated that he had had a serious discussion about the CSM with EU Special Envoy Miroslav Lajcak and US Envoy Gabriel Escobar.

Vucic said that the CSM had to have the competencies prescribed by the principles signed in 2015 in Brussels.

"The CSM should connect the Serbian communities, i.e. 97 percent of the Serbian communities into one single whole. There will remain some outlying enclaves, but the CSM will connect the area from Sirinicka Zupa to Novo Brdo, all the way to Gracnica, and all four north. In the agreement from 2015, it is clearly said that Serbia had the right to finance the prescribed competencies - health, education, rural and urban development, spatial planning, and economic development. When you have that, you have much greater security for our people. No one can abolish payment transactions, so you can't pay salaries, as is the case today," he emphasized.

Vucic said that what had been signed had to be fulfilled.

When asked about the elections in the north of Kosovo, which the Pristina authorities were planning for April 13, and whether the Serbs would participate, he said that the Serb List had stated its position that it would not participate.

"I think it is necessary to create different conditions," Vucic added.

He called on citizens to be wise, to trust in work, and to look to the future because, as he says, he believes that a process that is not simple will take place, where both Serbia and Albanians will be informed that this proposal is within the negotiation framework of European integration.

"For us, staying on the European path is of significant national interest. Take it easy, people, don't jump the gun, it's easiest to curse someone and turn your head. We will work smartly, wisely, taking care of national vital interests," he emphasized.

Citing that "peace is not everything, but without peace you have nothing" and that "you don't have to see the air and the sun, but you can't do without them", the president says that Serbia will do its best to preserve peace, to move towards better relations with Albanians, protecting vital national interests.

"I will do my best to never go to the houses to explain to mothers why their children come back in coffins and that is not pathetic. People have to understand that everything has changed. We didn't understand that everything changed in 1989, and in 1990, I didn't understand, I was young, but the problem is that even those who were not young did not understand. Things have changed many times in the world and in relation to that, we cannot pretend that we do not see anything and that nothing is happening around us, but in those conditions, we have to save Serbia, to bring “our little ship” undamaged, to save the children, while protecting vital national interests, which is not easy and simple, but seems like a dance on the razor’s edge," he said.

Stating that Serbia was 39-40 percent of the total economy of the Western Balkans and that today it is more than 50 percent of the economy of the Western Balkans, as well as that in the previous 10 years there were more foreign investments, 69 percent compared to Croatia, 50 percent compared to Bulgaria, seven times more than Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vucic says that with the growth of the economy, we can cooperate with everyone and win.

"We have the biggest jump in the first decade of March, 642 million euros is our level of foreign investments in the first two months and the first decade, which is significantly more than last year, which was a record. I said we expected four billion, and I hoped for five. With a growing economy, we can cooperate with everyone and win," he added.

Vucic also says that the situation is better because 28 countries have withdrawn their recognition and notes that this was not the case in the period from 2008 to 2012.