Vucic: I will inform parliamentary groups of details of European plan

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday evening he would hold consultations with representatives of parliamentary groups in the coming days to inform them of all details of a European plan for the Kosovo-Metohija issue.

"As early as in the coming days, I will make an invitation to all representatives of parliamentary groups who want to hear this to inform them, because I cannot speak openly and publicly about all the details. I will inform them of how all that went, what is behind everything, what the intentions are," Vucic said during a public address at the Presidency of Serbia.

"We will create real institutional transparency and seek a more important role of the parliament and the government," he said, noting that the "people need not worry", because nothing had been signed.

"We have not signed or initialled anything. We are just faced with facts, but we ourselves must be fair and understand that it is important to try to find compromise solutions," Vucic said.

"Nothing will happen today, tomorrow, in a month or in three months," he said.

"But once we are faced with those final demands, the National Assembly and perhaps the people, and perhaps everyone else, will decide on that. By 'everyone' I mean all other institutions in Serbia's political system and entire Serbian society," Vucic said.

He said he had always listened to the opinions of the Serbian Orthodox Church and all other religious communities in Serbia.

"In any case, a difficult period is ahead of us and it will take more effort and much more work and energy to overcome all that in the best possible way," Vucic said.

It is very important that Serbia shows it is committed to peace, Vucic said.

He said the five international envoys he met with on Friday had presented to him the consequences Serbia would face in case it rejected the new plan for Kosovo-Metohija.

Vucic noted that, already in the second sentence, the envoys had said Serbia must accept the plan.

He explained that he had been told the plan was a new negotiation framework for Serbia's EU accession and that rejecting it would result in "a halt of European integration, stoppage and withdrawal of investments and comprehensive economic and political measures that will do great damage do Serbia."

He said this had been repeated three more times during the meeting and that he had reacted strongly to that every time.

Vucic also said a change of geopolitical circumstances due to the Ukraine conflict had resulted in the harshest Western approach to Serbia and the Kosovo-Metohija issue to date.

"Europe is de facto at war, whatever they might say," Vucic said.

For that reason, there is no tolerance for any divergence in the political sense, he said.

"In their backyard - and the Western Balkans and Serbia are, of course, their backyard - they want everything to be as they want," he said.

"We are on everyone's radar because we have not imposed sanctions on Russia," Vucic also said, noting that the present situation was also due to constant incidents caused by Pristina's PM Albin Kurti in order to provoke a conflict and then pin the blame on Serbia.