Vucic: Kosovo-Metohija a part of Serbia, I believe EU will help agreements from 2013 materialise

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he believed the EU, as an organisation that stood by its word and signature, would help all agreements on Kosovo-Metohija from 2013 materialise, including the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities.

Vucic said this after receiving the European Commission's annual report on Serbia's progress from the head of the EU Delegation to Belgrade, Andreas von Beckerath.

"Mr von Beckerath, I am very happy to have been able to receive the annual report of the European Commission, the European Union, on the situation in Serbia. You said it is a mirror, I would say it is your opinion and your view, definitely not a mirror. But I am extremely grateful to you for all you said today. I think it is extremely important for our citizens to finally hear, in an honest manner, what you expect from us," Vucic told a press conference at the Palace of Serbia.

"Kosovo-Metohija is a very important region for us and a part of the territory we consider to be our country in line with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the UN Charter and UNSCR 1244," Vucic also said.

"You said all commitments from an agreement from 2023 must be delivered on. Before that, I am certain that the EU, as an organisation that always stands by its word and especially its signature, wants everything signed on April 19, 2013 - as many as ten years earlier - fulfilled, and we are confident you will help us with that, which has not been the case in the past 12 years. But I believe that, too, will eventually happen," Vucic told Beckerath.

He noted that he believed that, with regards to events from the autumn of 2023, the EU would help to ensure accountability for those responsible for all incidents between 2008 and end-2025 in which Serbs had been killed, wounded or arbitrarily arrested.

Vucic also noted that the EU path was "Serbia's strategic path."

"That will not change until the end of my term, and after that - in about a year - it will be up to the citizens of Serbia to decide what will happen," he said.