Starović: Serbia has opted for a sovereign and independent foreign policy

State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nemanja Starović has said that Serbia's obligations as a country in the EU-accession process were to gradually harmonise its foreign policy with the EU`s Common Foreign and Security Policy until it reaches full membership, stressing that Serbia did not wish to choose between the East and the West and that it had, instead, opted for a path that although more difficult, was yielding results.

“It is a sovereign and independent foreign policy. Staying on such a course now comes with additional challenges following 24 February, and it is no secret”, State Secretary Starović has stated in his guest appearance on Insajder (Insider) Television.

According to State Secretary Starović, Serbia primarily follows its foreign policy which derives or arises from the conclusions of the National Security Council adopted on 25 February, one day after the war in Ukraine had begun, and Serbia has been on that course for three whole months. He added that from a range of bad solutions, Serbia chooses the one that will cause the least damage to the country.

State Secretary Starović noted that world leaders were sending daily messages about Serbia needing to choose a side, wishing Serbia would fully harmonise its foreign policy with what they called the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. “However, if we look at what is written in the papers, what really represents Serbia`s obligations as a country in the EU-accession process, it is that Serbia is to gradually harmonise its foreign policy with the EU`s Common Foreign and Security Policy”, he stressed.

State Secretary Starović added that Serbia made its foreign policy decisions very rationally, and a rational assessment was that joining the sanctions regime against Russia would do more real harm than not, primarily in terms of preserving energy security. “Which price is higher to pay? ― this question is considered every day”, said State Secretary Starović.

Regarding the request made by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Priština for admission to the Council of Europe, State Secretary Starović said that a great battle awaited Serbia ― one which had not yet begun. He echoed the fact that the topic of the so-called Kosovo's membership had not been put on the agenda at the recent session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Turin, that a two-thirds majority in the Council of Europe was needed for that request to be approved, and that while numbers were in Priština's favour, so far countries had not always strictly determined in the international forums whether they had recognised the so-called Kosovo independence or not. “The moment the process starts, which we do not know when that will be, it will last at least a year and could continue for another three or four years”, State Secretary Starović explained.

When asked when President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić would announce which four countries had withdrawn their recognition of the so-called Kosovo, State Secretary Starović answered that the President represented Serbia abroad and had the best overview of the situation, as well as that he would decide when to inform the public about that.