Brnabic: MEPs have held no consultations with us about January 22 visit to Belgrade

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Thursday she would not be able to meet with a delegation of European Parliament members that would be visiting Belgrade from January 22 through 24 as she would be on a trip to Estonia, and added that the MEPs had not held consultations about their visit with anyone from the Serbian state institutions.

"I will not be here at that time, but on a visit to Estonia. But that is what happens when someone comes to your house uninvited and does not have even the basic decency to hold consultations with the one who is supposed to be the host about whether certain dates are alright," Brnabic said, noting that President Aleksandar Vucic would be attending the Davos World Economic Forum at the time of the visit.

She said her visit to Estonia had been arranged beforehand and was important for Serbia's EU integration.

"I will certainly not be cancelling it, because someone has invited themselves and given themselves the right to set a date that suits them. They do not care about what date suits the hosts. But alright, that date suits those who have invited them. So, they have agreed that with those who invited them, and they should be the ones who will receive them."

She said the delegation included EP rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula and two other Croatian MEPs.

Brnabic especially noted verbal attacks on Vucic by the pro-blockade opposition for his statement about a military alliance formed by Pristina, Tirana and Zagreb, in which he said Serbia needed to be aware of that alliance and of who it was aimed against.

"They asked no questions about why Zagreb, Pristina and Tirana are doing that. No, no - they are attacking the president of Serbia for saying that, and they say that 'the alliance is not aimed against Serbia.' Yeah, right - then who is it aimed against, when everyone else in the region is in NATO?" Brnabic said.

Asked about US pretensions to take Greenland from Denmark, Brnabic said that was "slippery ground" and noted that Serbia had always been almost the only advocate of respect for international law and the UN Charter.

"At meetings, we keep raising the issue of respect for that principle in Serbia's case, respect for the territorial integrity and internationally recognised borders of Serbia as a UN member state, as well as under UNSCR 1244," Brnabic said.