Vučić after meeting Rama: "No person in the right mind looks forward to conflicts"

Vučić after meeting Rama: "No person in the right mind looks forward to conflicts"

Rama is visiting the region as part of preparations for the Berlin Process, which Tirana will preside over in October.

"I welcomed the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama. I think that after a decade of silence in the relations between Serbia and Albania, I would say between the Serbs and the Albanians, it was the two of us who started to change the bad political legacy and I think that in previous years we have shown concrete results that our nations can move forward and cooperate," said Vučić and added.

"If you look only at the numbers and the level of trade exchange in the period from 2019 to the end of 2020, you will see how significantly the cooperation between our countries has increased, both import and export from one country and from another. It coincides with the Open Balkans, but also with better political relations", president of Serbia said.

President Vučić said that he discussed with Rama all regional issues as well as the Berlin process and welcomed Albania's engagement and the personal contribution of Edi Rama.

"We have always supported activities related to this very useful regional format and we believe that it will contribute to cooperation, improvement of the reconciliation process and overcoming inherited problems from the past," said Vučić.

"We will contribute to the implementation of plans for the regional market, as the National Assembly did. We know that Rama will invest energy for the upcoming period. As for the Open Balkans, we launched the initiative together with Albania, and it brought benefits to all our citizens. It can contribute to a better standard of all our citizens. We will continue to have meetings on this topic, and you know to prepare the Wine Vision and of course we talked about regional issues and our views on Kosovo, but I don't think it would be fair or correct to do that in Rama's presence, we will leave that for us, our countries and the future," said Vučić.

The President said that Serbia will continue to develop strong and friendly relations with Albania.

Edi Rama's address

"Given that the Prime Minister was not present, I certainly had the opportunity to discuss extensively topics such as the Berlin process, and I believe that we could make a new plan so that the EC could draw up a new financial plan, so that our countries would be in the single economic market. We are also talking about other aspects. We have acquired the habit of openly exchanging opinions and sometimes we disagree with the same, but we have to work for the benefit of peace. In order to cooperate, we need moments like this. As for the situation in Kosovo, we do not express our opinions so as not to influence the situation", said Rama.

Questions from the press

Mohamed Velik from Top Channel asked if, after the meeting, Edi Rama is less worried that Kosovo could become a new "Donbas", and asked President Vučić if there are any chances for Serbia to return to dialogue with Prime Minister Kurti.

"I will repeat what I said, the only way forward is not the way to increase tensions, but the way of dialogue and agreement, which is confirmed on the Franco-German level. I do not want to repeat here what I said in Pristina, but no one should underestimate the risk when we find ourselves in a situation that we must not allow to happen, which may be similar to Donbas, and which would make it impossible to return the situation to the old way, even though today it is possible to control it. There must be a common point of view," said Rama.

"Everyone in Serbia hopes that Djokovic will win Wimbledon, although you don't know if it will happen. Any normal person cannot look forward to conflicts and I didn't accidentally say that. It is about the simultaneous resignation of the mayor, everything else Serbia has already fulfilled. We want peace, no matter how difficult it may be. I know that there will always be someone in Tirana and Pristina who will see the culprit in Serbia. I will not tell you the magnitude of the problem we are facing. As for seeing Albin Kurti, it has never been a problem for me to talk to him. I tried to talk to everyone. You ask me when I will see him, but you don't know when those who are closer to him will see him too," said Vučić.

Dragana Biberović from RTS asked President Aleksandar Vučić about Rama's proposal for a draft statute for the CSM and said that Pristina claimed that such a proposal contained too much autonomy for Serbs, which Rama denied, and whether it was discussed during the meeting. She asked Rama about the UN Security Council, and whether Albania would vote for its inclusion in the agenda if it came to that.

"We discussed the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, I did not see Edi Rama's proposal. I have to refer you to the Brussels Agreement, the CSM must be based on what was signed and accepted back in 2023. Put the principles in the statute and that's it, the Serbs accepted everything else, even civil protection. The bottom line is that the CSM must be formed. I haven't seen any proposal," said Vučić.

"Given that you mentioned the proposal, I would like to remind you that the draft statute proposal is a contribution that I made and that is positive in terms of content and is not something that the parties would necessarily accept and that was not considered by any of the parties, and I apologize that someone does not want to understand that this was a contribution on behalf of Albania and for them it has no value. The people of so-called Kosovo speak for themselves. What is on paper was handed over to Macron and Scholz, but also to Michel. It is up to them to read it. I believe that insisting on staying in municipal buildings is an obstacle to peace and that is a mistake. When it comes to the UNSC, we are members of NATO, as well, we are neither a superpower nor have the capacity to act like that, but we are lucky to be in good relations with the superpowers. I want to be familiar with this idea, but I don't know what the president means when he says that the Security Council has to deal with the issue of northern Kosovo, but the SC's position reflects the position of its member states. I'm worried that tensions don't upset our compass and they must be dealt with by all," Rama declared.

"Only the Serbian management team must deal with and present the draft statute, no French or German leaders," Vučić pointed out.

"They are the godfathers of the Franco-German plan, not the statute, because it is their plan, Serbia did not create that plan. It is a contribution aimed at a positive process, but I think that if the parties are interested, they will be able to accept it," Rama added, to which Vučić replied:

"In Serbia, we do not call godfathers the ones who impose their intentions on us."