Vucic: Referendum on the dismissal of the mayors in northern Kosovo another of Kurti's deceptions

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic stated today that the referendum on the dismissal of mayors in four municipalities in northern Kosovo was another deception by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Vucic announced that on March 15, the Special Envoy of the European Union for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, would come to Belgrade.

"The referendum on the dismissal of the mayors in northern Kosovo is another deception by Albin Kurti. I will speak about this in the coming days. Miroslav Lajcak, the EU Envoy for the Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, is coming to Belgrade on March 15, and after that, I will explain what Kurti plans," Vucic said in response to journalists' questions in Belgrade.

The document on the CSM and the new draft of the Franco-German proposal, foresee that Serbia finances its obligations in dinars

Regarding the problems arising from the ban on the dinar, Vucic reiterated that Serbia would find a way to help its people in Kosovo, but also emphasized that according to all documents regarding the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, including the new draft of the Franco-German proposal, it is envisaged that Serbia finances all its obligations in dinars.

In the context of criticism from the opposition regarding the repetition of elections in Belgrade, Vucic drew a parallel with some of their proposals regarding Kosovo, indicating that his political opponents were not sufficiently informed about what they were talking about.

"If the president of the assembly is elected on March 11, 12, or 13, the Belgrade elections must be held by May 11 or 12. So, on April 28 or May 5, and May 5 is Easter. Do you want to have elections on Easter? They utter nonsense when they say that I pass the 'lex specialis'. The president doesn't pass it, the assembly does. Did you propose it? They didn't even know how to request the elections... Like when they say - what's the problem, send euros to Kosovo... We have banks, but Pristina wants to abolish them. That's the issue. That's the poorest approach from some representatives of the former regime," Vucic said.

Some of them, he recalls, previously led the Serbian Army, and he says, "the soldiers are now ashamed of how they led it," while they "destroyed it on external orders."

"And they talk to you about Kosovo... It's not a problem, if we have to, we will find a solution to help our people in Kosovo. But why do you immediately take Kurti's side, the side of every enemy of Serbia? I am not capable of understanding that," the President of Serbia stated.

He added that the opposition further deceived the public in all of this.

"Even according to the acts on the CSM, there is a provision for Serbia to finance its obligations in dinars at any time, from healthcare, education, economic activities, pensions... Even the new draft of the Franco-German proposal includes this provision," Vucic pointed out.

He added that the opposition itself did not believe in election fraud because they would participate in the new elections without problems, especially considering that the voting in Belgrade would be the only local elections monitored by ODIHR.

"They clearly understand that there was no fraud and that they must gain the trust of the people. Whoever wins, I will congratulate them, but I will not allow lies and deception as part of geopolitical games aimed at destroying Serbia," Vucic emphasized.

When asked how important it was for Serbia to have a strong army, he replied that the Serbian army must be twice as strong as it was at the moment.

"There are new doctrinal documents stating that we must be much stronger than today and we must work on that rapidly. Our strength must be twice as great as it is today," Vucic emphasized.