Vucevic: Serbia Avoids Being Culprit and Disruptive Factor in Brussels

Milos Vucevic (Photo: Beta/Milos Miskov)

Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said on Oct. 27 that the talks with European officials on Kosovo and Metohija in Brussels, on Oct. 26, had been difficult and laborious but that Serbia "avoided the scenario of being the culprit and the disruptive factor."

"There is nothing nice and easy for us there, nor will we hear anything particularly nice and easy in those talks. What is good [is that] Serbia avoided that scenario of being the culprit, of being the disruptive factor, of wanting conflict, because that scenario had already been prepared with the aim of not only accusing Serbia, but rather punishing it too," Vucevic told Happy TV.

In his words, Serbia is ready to negotiate on all proposals that exclude Kosovo's independence and a chair in the U.N.

"We do not accept any form of de jure or de facto recognition of Kosovo as an independent state. Other things can be discussed, be it a customs declaration, this or that stamp... All that does not lead to Kosovo's independence is for us something that can be a topic on the table," he said.

The minister went on to say that 90 percent of citizens would prefer to hear that Serbia was refusing everything from that dialogue and leaving it.

"Everyone would rejoice at seeing our army in Kosovo and Metohija, but we must know, we must recall that we withdrew from Kosovo and Metohija in 1999 in line with the Kumanovo Agreement and Resolution 1244 and essentially ceded that military authority to KFOR," said Vucevic.