Dacic: International pressure crucial for establishment of Community

PARIS - Pressure from the international community will be crucial for making the Pristina authorities meet their obligations and establish a Community of Serb Municipalities, Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said after a meeting with French FM Catherine Colonna in Paris on Thursday.

Anything other than that - be it visa liberalisation or a start of the procedure for Council of Europe membership - would be a reward for Pristina, he said.

He said he had conveyed to Colonna Serbia's positions on the situation in Kosovo-Metohija.

"Colonna said they are hoping - and I think it would not be good if they are just hoping, because we were hoping for the past ten years - to make Pristina implement the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities as a contribution to normalisation of our relations," Dacic said.

He noted that, ten years after its signature, the Brussels Agreement remained a "dead letter."

"Serbia is disappointed because Catherine Ashton's signature on that document has meant nothing and because we will soon, especially after May 2 and the high-level meeting in Brussels, face a response to the question of whether Kurti really wants the Community of Serb Municipalities formed. Our opinion is that he does not, and that he wants to expel Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija," Dacic noted.

He added that Colonna had said she would visit Serbia and that France supported the idea of the entire Western Balkans joining the EU.

He said the level of Serbia-France bilateral relations was perhaps the highest in decades.

He said Presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Emmanuel Macron maintained an extremely good and friendly relationship, and noted that Macron's visit to Serbia had been extremely significant and historic.

He also said the volume of Serbia-France bilateral trade was growing year by year and that it had reached 1.6 bln euros in 2022.

"France's VINCI is operating our airport, there are plans to build a large landfill in Vinca, a metro system, and hundreds of French companies are employing workers in Serbia. France is a major investor in our country and we are trying to have the best possible relations in all segments. We would like our agreement on strategic partnership to also imply a higher level of cooperation and seeking of common interests at both state and national level, not only economically," Dacic said.

He also said France expected Serbia to align with the EU foreign, visa, security and defence policies.

Presenting Serbia's positions to Colonna, Dacic said Serbia had to look after its national, state and economic interests.