TANJUG - Dačić: Czech Republic will not put Kosovo’s membership application through the voting procedure

19. Dec 2022.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dačić stated today that, according to information available to him at the time, the Czech Republic would not, at any time during its presidency of the Council of the EU, put the EU membership application of the so-called Kosovo through the voting procedure, instead only notifying the Member States about its receipt.

“The Czech Republic has received the application, and, according to the latest information I have received, at the session which is to be held this week, they will only inform the Member States that they have received the application, and will not put it through the voting procedure”, said Minister Dačić in his statement to the press, after the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Nikos Dendias.  

Minister Dačić added that this matter would be addressed by the following presidency, that of Sweden, which was to take over the role from the New Year.  

“Ultimately, a decision must be made by consensus, which will not be possible at this time, since five countries, including Greece, have not recognised Kosovo, while Hungary, even though it has recognised Kosovo, never votes for Kosovo in any international forums”, stated Minister Dačić.  

He added that Serbia was still facing an upcoming difficult fight in the Council of Europe.

“Everything has been postponed for the next year. Ireland did not want to complete that task during its mandate. Now it's Iceland’s turn. We will have to have talks. Since Iceland is to hold a Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe, it’s not in their interest to aggravate various problems. It’s in their interest to have some kind of agreement and harmony during the Summit. This is why we don't expect that matter to be put on the agenda so soon”, said Minister Dačić  

He emphasised that Pristina was violating both the Brussels Agreement and the Washington Agreement, and stated that Serbia would continue to negotiate with countries which do not recognise the so-called Kosovo in order for them to retain that position, and with countries which had recognised Kosovo so they would change their position and withdraw their recognition.  

He said that he had heard from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece that they would retain their principled position in the matter of Kosovo and Metohija, which would mean that Greece would be supporting the preservation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia.  

Asked by Tanjug to comment on the announcement of the President of Serbia that he would soon inform the public about which countries had withdrawn their recognition of the so-called Kosovo, Minister Dačić.said it would happen eventually. 

“What is certain is that there are 27 countries which have withdrawn their recognition of Kosovo, of which we can't identify 18, and regarding the other nine countries, we will see when the decision will be made to announce which countries those are”, stated Minister Dačić. 

Source: Tanjug