Vucic: No progress in Belgrade-Pristina dialogue as long as Kurti is in power

PARIS - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who is attending the Paris Peace Forum, said on Friday afternoon the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue would be a topic of discussions in Paris in the evening, but noted that he did not believe there would be any progress in the dialogue as long as Albin Kurti was at the helm of the Pristina interim authorities.

"There is not much philosophy in that - I think everyone in the West now understands Kurti does not want to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities at all and that he does not want any progress in the dialogue whatsoever, and that all the rest was Balkan tricks that can work one or two times, but definitely not over the long term," Vucic told reporters when asked whether the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue would be discussed in Paris.

"I do not believe there will be any particular progress, let alone establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities, as long as Kurti is in power in Pristina."

Asked if a meeting with Kurti was a possibility, Vucic said he had no such plans and that he would not even know what to talk about with Kurti.

He also said he found it strange that representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina had met with Kurti.

"He picked the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina he wanted to meet with. It is strange that they accepted that. But that makes me wonder about such double standards and the hypocritical approaches to solving problems in the territory of the former Yugoslavia whereby territorial integrity is recognised in some situations and requests are being made that territorial integrity be respected, while, on the other hand, the integrity of the country that is being requested to respect territorial integrity is not recognised. But alright, I guess that, too, is good for us because we know where we stand and who we are dealing with," Vucic said.

He said he had had two brief meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day and that they would speak again in the evening during a tete-a-tete meeting.