[h=1]Serbia’s Vucic: Compromise is strength; new meeting with Pristina in September[/h]
Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s President, said on Tuesday that a kind of the continuation of the Berlin meeting between Belgrade and Pristina was planned in September after the French head of state Emmanuel Macron said on Monday a solution might be expected in few months, the Beta news agency reported.
Macron and Vucic met with the students form the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) at the Belgrade Kalemegdan Park as a part of the French President two-day visit to Serbia.
Vucic said “some time is needed to discuss some issues again. I hate to throw a ball into other’s yard and talk about (the 100 percent import) taxes (Pristina introduced on goods from Serbia and Bosnia last November) and other things. Let's wait for the great powers to do their job and then we’ll come out with what’s our (plan),” Vucic said.
Asked to what extent Macron supports Serbia, the President has said his French counterpart understands the seriousness of the problem, adding the things cannot be solved if no one wants to give up anything.
Kosovo’s PM Ramush Haradinaj said later on Tuesday that Berlin and Paris still insisted that Pristina abolish the import tariffs. He added that aimed at “disciplining Kosovo to accept a solution with many compromises in its final deal with Belgrade.“Taxes are not just taxes and it’s not all about trade. It’s also a question whether we are a state or not. If we give up taxes before Serbia recognises us, it will be more difficult to reach an agreement in an equal position.”
“I asked for understanding that it cannot be resolved as we all would like to be, but that it has to be something in between,” Vucic said.
He added that a compromise was not a weakness, but the strength and that he would always strive for it, which would not be either surrender or giving up, but a real compromise.
“If we can, we’ll follow that direction, if not, other generations will have to do that,” he added, saying it was not possible to live in fear.
“People ask why Serbia is buying arms,” Vucic said, adding “to deter anyone from attacking us.”
“If they see Serbia is a rotten apple, everyone will easily take it, but if they see it like a nut, it’s not easily broken,” Vucic said but did not specify who might want to attack Serbia.
Referring to Macron’s visit, Vucic said “Serbia is delighted with (Macron’s) energy and enthusiasm” and that the French President “wins the hear of the Serbs.”
Addressing the RICO students, Macron said he had said what was in his heart and “as of now we will work together."
In a statement to the Prva TV, the French President thanked Serbia for its hospitality.
New Belgrade - Pristina meeting in September, Vucic says | N1 Srbija