Vucic: Tough Negotiations with Pristina from July 16

Aleksandar Vucic (Beta/Branislav Bozic)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that he is proud of how the Serbian representatives held themselves during the resumed talks between Belgrade and Pristina, adding that as of July 16, a “tough battle” lays ahead, in further negotiations.

During his appearance on Pink TV in the evening of July 12, Vucic said that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had shown “enormous interest” in further Belgrade-Pristina talks, mostly “because of geopolitics,” but also because “they are aware that a frozen conflict cannot be maintained forever.”

“Clashes and wars are in nobody’s interest… Our goal is to get something, to lose as little as possible, while gaining some of what had been lost between 2000 and 2008,” Vucic said, adding that he does not want to further discuss Belgrade’s negotiating position as it “could harm Serbia’s interests in Europe and the world.”

In the same interview he said that the new cabinet will be formed “faster than [I] had expected,” before end of August, instead of in September. He added that there is no evidence to support the claims that Russia is behind the protests in Serbia, but that he is not happy with what certain Russian, German and U.S. media outlets are doing.