Foreign Minister: Serbia’s Government to Decide Whether or Not to Recall Its Ambassador to Poland

LGBT flags

Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic has said that the Serbian government is to decide whether or not to recall Serbian Ambassador to Poland Nikola Zurovic, who had signed a letter of support to the Polish LGBT community without consulting with Belgrade first.

Selakovic told the Kurir daily that he was supposed to be in Poland on May 19, but that the Polish officials had started cancelling their appointments with him in Warsaw the day before.

“That’s when we found out that the reason for [the cancellations] were our ambassador’s actions, who signed the petition, it’s not even important on what; but it is understood that a country stands behind the actions of its ambassador. He didn’t consult anyone, while a ministerial visit was coming up,” Selakovic said.

According to him, the petition in question “hasn’t even been signed by all EU member states,” and added that his visit has not been cancelled, but postponed. “My duty is to call the ambassador in for a talk, but the government is to decide whether or not to replace him. In the world of diplomacy, every word it binding. [Another] visit to Poland is soon to be organized,” the foreign minister assured.

Zurovac, alongside 40 other ambassadors of mostly EU member states, signed a letter of support to the LBGT community in Poland, which sparked a strong backlash from Poland’s conservative authorities.