FM: Kosovo’s CoE Membership Was Not on Agenda

Marko Djuric (BETAPHOTO/MINISTARSTVO SPOLJNIH POSLOVA SRBIJE)

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric stated on May 14, after the meeting of the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers, that Kosovo’s membership in that organization had not been put on the agenda of that meeting.

“The most important news for the citizens of Serbia is that Kosovo and Metohija, our southern province, is not and will not become a member of the Council of Europe… It was the Quint countries (U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy) who did not support Pristina’s membership being put on the agenda,” Djuric stated after the meeting.

He went on to say that, during his address of the CoE ministerial meeting in Luxembourg, he stated that it should not be forgotten that Serbia was admitted into the Council of Europe 22 years ago as a democratic state, one embracing the principles of democracy and international law, with its borders recognized by the U.N.. “In my view, loyalty to Serbia means loyalty to the truth. And the truth is that Serbia became a member of this organization 22 years ago as a democratic state, with borders that include Kosovo and Metohija,” Djuric stated.

He added that it was impermissible for the borders of a democratic or any other country to be arbitrarily moved, in contradiction with the U.N. Charter. The Serbian foreign minister pointed out that Serbia was a country that firmly upheld the principles of international law and advocated democratic principles, not ethnocratic and ethno-nationalist ones.