U.S. Ambassador Says Up to Serbian Citizens to Choose the Path They Want to Travel

U.S. ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The U.S. ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, said on July 2 that the citizens of Serbia were standing at a crossroads and that one road led to the East, and the other to the West, explaining that “the road to the East has been closed for quite a while and repairs will have to be done.”

“The road to the West is open though. It is this road that Serbia should take, despite the difficulties. It is up to the Serbian citizens to choose,” Hill said in an interview with the Danas newspaper.

“This is how I see it and it is up to them to decide. Looking back at history, we can see that many successful Serbs were part of Western civilization,” the ambassador said, adding that he regularly met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and that even if they didn’t always see eye to eye, they would certainly continue to talk.

Responding to an observation that the relationship between Serbia and Kosovo seems to be getting worse, and asked what his message to President Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti would be, the U.S. diplomat said that he was in Serbia again “after 23 years, disappointed to see that so little progress has been made in relations. “It is good that the EU has taken over the process, and it is good that a dialogue is running,” he said, adding that it was clear to him that “a lot more progress needs to be made.”