Palmer: Vucic and Serbia know they cannot join EU before agreement with Kosovo

Tv Alsat

The US envoy to the Western Balkans, the State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Mathew Palmer said in Pristina on Friday Serbia would suffer both politically and economically if no agreement with Kosovo was reached, N1 reported.

Addressing the students and NGOs representatives, Palmer said the US would not impose any agreement without the consent from both sides and the approval of both parliaments, adding Serbia would not join the EU without the normalisation of relations with Kosovo.

He said that as soon as a deal was reached, the things would move forward.

“President Vucic and the majority in Serbia know they cannot join the EU until they resolve the long-term dispute with Kosovo. As long as the leading officials refuse to treat Kosovo as a neighbour instead of its property, there will be hold-ups which will inflict damage to Serbia both politically and economically,” Palmer said.

He added that “Serbia should focus on overall strategic interests. It was aggressive in delegitimising Kosovo. The campaign for the withdrawal of the recognition of Kosovo and the blockage of its membership to international institutions should stop. The intimidation of Serbia’s political representatives on the border should stop. These measure of confrontation should stop on both sides. They only burden the atmosphere for an agreement which Serbia needs to achieve full potential and open its European road.”

Earlier, he told Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci that Pristina could open the door peace with an agreement with Serbia.

In the meeting in Kosovo’s capital, the two discussed the dialogue on the normalisation of relation between Belgrade and Pristina and the need to form Kosovo’s institutions quickly, Thaci’s office said in a statement.