Vucic: I told everyone in Brussels to their face that I will not recognize Kosovo

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said once again this evening that he would not recognize the independence of Kosovo, and that he had said this to the face of the leaders of the EU and three countries, France, Germany, and Italy, stating that they cared about such an epilogue, because Serbia was their "stone in a shoe", because they know that by violating the territorial integrity of Serbia, they had violated all international legal norms.

Vucic told TV Tanjug that he had told Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Giorgia Meloni, Josep Borrell, and Miroslav Lajcak to their faces that recognizing Kosovo was out of the question.

"That I will not sign and I will not accept the independence of Kosovo". And they know that", Vucic said.

He reports that they do not ask him in those words, but that at the last meeting in Brussels, the question was when he would sign the documents.

"They say - you have this option, do you want to sign it?" I will not. It is not easy to say that, these are serious people, the most responsible for the fate of Europe..." Vucic added.

When asked if they threatened him, he responded that he wouldn't lie if he said they were threats because European leaders didn't use such language, but he did understand very well that Serbia could face certain consequences.

Despite having good relations with these leaders, he explains that there are three reasons why they don't change their agenda.

"Have they recognized independent Kosovo? For them to say, the great powers, Germany, France, Italy, the USA – that they have made a mistake? When have you seen that? The reason is simple", he said.

He added that there was an additional reason, and that was that Serbia was a thorn in the side for all of them.

"My stubborn repetition of the story of the 1999 aggression and the violation of international legal norms is a stone in their shoe", Vucic added.

As he said, at some point, the conflict in Ukraine would have to stop, which was true, but the counter-argument would be:

"But you carried out an aggression against a small country much more brutally, without a decision from the Security Council, in violation of all international legal norms. Today, formally, Resolution 1244 is in effect, to which they refer de facto and de jure when they talk about KFOR in Kosovo, but they do not respect it, or the UN Charter. To avoid facing this argument, they say, 'Come on, Serbs, let's see anything, accept that everything is over, and we can say it's over by your agreement. There's nothing more logical from their point of view", Vucic said.

The statement by Ursula von der Leyen in Pristina is what the major powers, Germany, France, Italy, and the USA, think and want

Vucic pointed out that the Pristina "bots" and "trolls" were fantastic weapons in the hands of Albin Kurti.

"They are so afraid of their trolls in Brussels because they think they genuinely represent public opinion, while our people do not perceive it that way and will always say something against their own country. Social media have an incredible influence even on Brussels politics", he explained.

Vucic stated that he had not been surprised by Ursula von der Leyen's statement in Pristina, which, he said, had sent a message about what the great powers, Germany, France, Italy, and the USA, thought and desired.

"She was very fair in Belgrade, and she didn't want to say that. I'm not surprised that she said it in Pristina because a few days before that, I heard the same from EU leaders. I asked Miroslav Lajcak, being Slovak, why he said such things, and he told me they were under pressure. Does this mean we should create a network of trolls?" the President of Serbia asked.

He thanked Von der Leyen for not reacting immediately, to the request for measures against Serbia, and for coming to Belgrade to listen to the Serbian side.

When asked about the timing of the next meeting of the chief negotiators, Vucic stated that Belgrade had accepted the invitation but was unsure if the other side had done so.

"We accepted that the meeting be in a few days, but I am not sure if the other side has accepted it. It was supposed to take place on November 6 or 7", Vucic stated.

Regarding the statement of the Israeli Ambassador in Croatia: Pleasing the public opinion

Commenting on the statement of the Israeli Ambassador in Croatia, who compared "Operation Storm" to the current events in Gaza, Vucic thanked the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who condemned that statement.

"Minister Cohen is our friend. The Israeli Ambassador made that statement to please the local public opinion, without thinking it would reach us. Representatives of foreign embassies in Pristina behave the same way", Vucic said.

The Israeli Ambassador in Croatia reportedly said, according to the Croatian portal Index, that "Croatia understands what Israel is exposed to due to the Homeland War and that the Serbs from the territory of Croatia were fortunate that Serbia wanted to take them in, as Arab countries do not want to do that with the Palestinians".