FM: Same challenges as 200 years ago

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has said that Serbia is facing challenges and issues very similar to those from two centuries ago. “The similarity between these challenges does not mean that Serbia and its diplomacy stood in one place for 200 years. But it makes us wonder whether the Serbian fate was decided much earlier and whether two centuries of the Serbian diplomacy could in short be described as fight of the will against the fate,” he said at a celebration of 200 years of the Serbian diplomacy. FM: Same challenges as 200 years ago “The world that is being born before us today looks much more like the one from the turbulent period in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century than like the balanced times that followed,” Jeremic pointed out. According to him, two great forces, well known to Serbia – Germany and Turkey, are again on the rise in Serbia’s close proximity. “Those two countries are our partners today but no matter how hard we work on harmonizing our interests they still do not match theirs completely. The third power, Russia, our most powerful ally in history, unlike the previous two has one fault as far as we are concerned – it is geographically far away,” the foreign minister explained. He added that Serbia “always suffered when it thought one-dimensionally and when it did not try to harmonize all relevant influences and that it survived and grew when it managed to find the balance”. “We suffered every time we did not understand the nature of tectonic movements in the world. We were successful when we understood them and had skills to, while riding the wave of changes, use their strength,” Jeremic noted. “When we were leaders in the region regarding state order, harmonization of society and economic prosperity, our voice could be heard, our ideas found fertile ground and our compatriots enjoyed greater rights outside our borders,” he said. The foreign minister stressed that current generations “are not spared the old fate” and that “it is hard not to notice that Serbia has significantly changed its attitude toward the surrounding countries in a positive way” 11 years after democratic changes. “Today we once again face something very close to an ultimatum – we are being asked to renounce (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244 in order to speed up our European pathway. We cannot agree to it,” Jeremic concluded. Vuk Jeremic

FM: Same challenges as 200 years ago

“The world that is being born before us today looks much more like the one from the turbulent period in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century than like the balanced times that followed,” Jeremić pointed out.

According to him, two great forces, well known to Serbia – Germany and Turkey, are again on the rise in Serbia’s close proximity.

“Those two countries are our partners today but no matter how hard we work on harmonizing our interests they still do not match theirs completely. The third power, Russia, our most powerful ally in history, unlike the previous two has one fault as far as we are concerned – it is geographically far away,” the foreign minister explained.

He added that Serbia “always suffered when it thought one-dimensionally and when it did not try to harmonize all relevant influences and that it survived and grew when it managed to find the balance”.

“We suffered every time we did not understand the nature of tectonic movements in the world. We were successful when we understood them and had skills to, while riding the wave of changes, use their strength,” Jeremić noted.

“When we were leaders in the region regarding state order, harmonization of society and economic prosperity, our voice could be heard, our ideas found fertile ground and our compatriots enjoyed greater rights outside our borders,” he said.

The foreign minister stressed that current generations “are not spared the old fate” and that “it is hard not to notice that Serbia has significantly changed its attitude toward the surrounding countries in a positive way” 11 years after democratic changes.

“Today we once again face something very close to an ultimatum – we are being asked to renounce (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244 in order to speed up our European pathway. We cannot agree to it,” Jeremić concluded.