At the press conference held after the Foreign Affairs Council meeting, EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini commented on tensions between Belgrade and Pristina regarding the train sent from Belgrade to the north of Kosovo. The press asked Mogherini to state her view regarding the involvement of the two sides, the tensions and the nature of the EU-facilitated dialogue for the normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina and to describe her vision of how the dialogue would continue in the future. Below is Mogherini’s full remark:
“As you are from a Serbian media you know probably that I was in contact with Prime Minister Vucic, extremely worried about the situation that could have easily escalated. And my message to the parties has been to avoid escalations, trying to contain both acts and rhetoric and trying to see the common engagement through the Dialogue as something that is delivering for both. Not necessarily, or not so much for both institutions, but for both peoples, because the steps we have taken both with Belgrade and with Pristina last year are historical.
And we managed to move so far and so much on the EU perspective of the entire region, also because we have managed to build on a positive Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. This requires sometimes political courage – I know that well – political leadership, political vision. We are here to help and facilitate. So the question about the perspectives of the dialogue is a question you should rather ask in Belgrade or in Pristina.
But what I see is from the both sides a determination to continue. To me what is really important today is to make this process continue to deliver for the people; and agreements already reached implemented on the ground on both sides which is again sometimes involving difficult decisions, but I think this is a choice that was done knowing exactly what it was entailing for good reasons on both sides.
The tensions are still high, we constantly see it, but the work I see and the determination I see from the leadership both in Pristina and in Belgrade is a strong one. And as you are from Serbian media, let me thank Prime Minister Vucic for the leadership he has shown in some difficult moments that I think is providing a good basis for him to continue to pursue the interest of his country, of his people and of the region through the dialogue,” Federica Mogherini said.
