Vucic: There will be profound and essential changes in Serbia's foreign policy

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, announced today, regarding the decision on Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, that there would be profound and fundamental changes in Serbia's foreign policy.

Vucic, after handing over employment contracts to the most successful graduates of all medical faculties and secondary medical schools, emphasized in a statement to journalists that Serbia had known that Kosovo had a majority in the CoE.

"We knew that they have a majority that you cannot threaten. Most of them are members of the EU, as well as those who are candidate countries and listen to what they are told impeccably, countries that are only obedient. All this is expected. Hungary's decision was unexpected and I am endlessly grateful to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom I asked on Saturday to abstain, and they proved to be the greatest friends of Serbia and voted against. They did it in a clear and loud way, not hiding from anyone, but they had their precise political views. I am grateful to Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia - people who supported public international law and the UN Charter," he underlined.

When asked whether Serbia would change its relationship with other countries in this regard, he said that Serbia was not a country that would change all its relations with the whole world overnight, because of one vote.

"We know that the EU countries recognize Kosovo, so we are on the European path. There was disappointment. Serbia has never been restrained regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It is one thing whether you impose sanctions on someone or not, but whether you are restrained or not for someone's territorial integrity is something completely different. That decision is not accidental. Ukrainian representatives asked for a break to consult with their American helpers and made a decision to exercise restraint," the President added.

Vucic pointed out that we should not clip our wings and break relations with everyone in the world.

"But we have to respect those who are with us more than before, to always know that those countries are more important than all others. Let's remember that," the President of Serbia emphasized.

Vucic said that it was necessary to make a foreign policy strategy and that tasks had been divided with the elements that in our foreign policy we took care in bilateral relations not to go beyond the limits of reciprocity.

"If someone does not respect the territorial integrity of Serbia, why should we be obliged to respect theirs? This goes against our first point of that strategy, which is respect for international law, the UN Charter. But when we fulfill that first goal, the second task immediately follows, which is something that you don't always have to do with too much emotion. Why should we rush to protect someone's integrity, we can also be silent if they are against the integrity of Serbia. These will be profound and fundamental changes in Serbia's foreign policy," he announced.

He said that Serbia should not behave as it had in 2008 and show our anger to the little ones, not the big ones.

"If you think that we are enthusiastic about the decisions of Montenegro or some others, we are not, and it will certainly affect the relations we have. We would be frivolous if they said "No problem". Abstaining yesterday was the same as voting for Kosovo. You could have shown a little attention to Serbia, you wouldn't be flattering those who guard your country or god knows what they help you with. We are small, we can't help you and we can't do anything, just don't expect us to be dogs that will kneel in front of you and beg for mercy. There will be profound and essential changes, and you will slowly see them in the matter of various declarations," he added.

He said that voting for a legal act was coming up in Reykjavik, where all 46 countries were expected to unanimously declare the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Moldova.

"We have always been for the territorial integrity of Ukraine; we will see what decision we will make. When there is no consensus, there is no decision. If we were the only ones who would be against it, it would not be easy; we would put the country in a difficult position. I will not prejudge how we will vote, but we will make it clear that we do not agree," he said.

Vucic pointed out that all those who claimed that this had been in accordance with any agreement were lying because that part had been removed from the implementation agreement by Albin Kurti, and in that document, it had been clearly stated what we would fulfill and when, and what we would not fulfil.

"You also postponed the elections; you have appointed occupation Gauleiters in four northern municipalities. Nowhere was the occupation celebrated and everywhere the occupation came to an end, and now we have to decide when and how we will end the occupation," he said.