Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Invitation to “Kosovo” for meeting in Helsinki is a precedent

Belgrade, 22 August 2019

First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic assessed today that EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, by inviting Pristina to participate in the Helsinki rally, is trying to create a precedent that Belgrade would have to accept, which would certainly not happen.

Dacic said in a statement to Tanjug news agency that for the first time, at the end of her term of office, Mogherini changed her practice and invited Pristina to a meeting to which EU candidate countries were invited.

The First Deputy Prime Minister indicated that because of Pristina, Mogherini changed the format of the event and said she had invited "partners".

In a formal sense, this will not violate our principled position, as the Gymnich format will be applied – with only the name and surname of the participants, without state characteristics, Dacic emphasised.

He stressed, however, that this was essentially unnecessary because there are many meetings at which Kosovo participates and should not be at a place that it did not reach in terms of its development.

According to Dacic, the aforementioned meeting in Helsinki, despite Pristina's participation, will not be an opportunity to discuss the continuation of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

Dacic said it is a meeting of foreign ministers held once a month, organised by the EU presidency and chaired by the High Representative, in this case Federica Mogherini.

Why would "Kosovo" be rewarded if they did not respect the Berlin conclusions, the Brussels Agreement or many other arrangements, and introduced fees that directly interrupted the dialogue, Dacic asked, recalling that Spain also protested the aforementioned calls to Pristina.