Belgrade, 2/06/2023

PUBLIC STATEMENT 

CONTINUE THE EFFORTS TOWARDS REACHING AN AGREEMENT WITH PRISTINA
AND OPPOSE RUSSIA’S MALIGN INFLUENCE

Forum for Security and Democracy, after the last week’s National Assembly’s vote on the Government of Serbia’s report on it’s negotiations with Pristina, calls on and expects the Government and the President to, within the framework provided by the international community, resolutely continue with further efforts aimed at reaching an agreement with the representatives of Pristina in order to permanently resolve the question that is blocking Serbia’s most significant integration processes with the EU and which is preventing Serbia from taking its place among the family of European nations.

FSD’s assessment is that the last session of the National Assembly at which that report was passed more than ever before and unambiguously demonstrated to what extent is the resolution of the frozen conflict in Kosovo inextricably intertwined with Serbia’s relations to Russia and that that very Russian influence and interest, more so than any Serbian interest, is the major roadblock that is keeping Serbia from resolving this issue that is crucial to it’s interests.

FSD points out that the scenes from that session, which were witnessed by both the domestic and international public, drastically displayed the scale of the harmfulness and the full specter of Russia’s malign influence in Serbia, as well as the mechanisms Russia has at its disposal in blocking the most significant political processes in Serbia aimed at expediting it’s journey toward the EU, but unfortunately it has also shown the unwillingness and reluctance of the so-called “pro-European” opposition to at this time, which stands as a turning point for Serbia and it’s EU future, clearly and unhesitantly stand against Russia’s dangerous and malign influence.

FSD, last but not least, deeply regrets that the oppositional parliamentary political parties, which in fact became parliamentary parties because of their commitment to Euro-Atlantic integrations, did not recognize the significance of and publicly support the Appeal which unambiguously supports the EU proposition for Serbia and Kosovo, but have instead through their thunderous silence around the Appeal left room for growing doubts about their dedication to Serbia’s full-fledged EU membership.