President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić commented on the breaking news that the temporary institutions in Kosovo have filed a request for membership in the European Council.

“Five minutes ago, Gërvalla-Schwarz filed an official request for the admission of the so-called Kosovo into the European Council. In doing so, they demonstrated that they have destroyed, flagrantly violated the Washington Agreement. After violating the Brussels Agreement for ten years, they have now done the same with the Washington Agreement. Neither themselves nor their mentors have ever abided by the Resolution No. 1244. It is up to us to avoid slipping into hatred and getting into the psychosis of conflict, while responsibly, rationally and seriously giving a firm and strong response. In line with that, I have Called for a session of the National Security Council tomorrow at 11 o’clock. Over the following weeks, we will make our best effort to demonstrate that we are able to fight and give everything for our country,” said President Vučić.

He added that it is clear that this game is being run by Western countries and that Serbia will try to defy them peacefully.

“There will be no backing down, no surrender, and no giving into blackmail and ultimatums,” said the President of Serbia.

“We will not recognize the independence of Kosovo, but our response must be clever and wise. We must preserve peace and stability, and remain firm, strong and persistent in protecting our best interest in hopes of reaching a solution via compromise and respecting what has already been signed,” said President Vučić.

He said that this will additionally affect the relations in the region and cause problems, asking who actually needed this and who talked the Kosovo Albanians into filing a request with the European Council now.

He also stated that this is not the end and that the fictitious country of Kosovo is about to be admitted into the Partnership for Peace program, as they received endorsement for their membership from the United States, and explained that this is putting additional pressure on five countries which have not recognized the independence of Kosovo, especially the four which are NATO members — Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, not including Cyprus.

Vučić asked a question to all those who support this action by Priština.

“Why do you even invite us to discussions about anything? If you have the Brussels Agreement which they signed, and the purpose of the Brussels Agreement, which is the Alliance of Serbian Municipalities — they don’t care about that. Why did you invite us to Washington for discussions if you broke the Washington Agreement the first chance you had? Why do you invite us at all when the Albanians don’t want to abide by anything we sign with them?”, asked President Vučić, saying:

“You are doing this to force us to recognize the independence of Kosovo, which we won’t do. Then why do you invite us at all? What is the point? You ostensibly want a solution via compromise, and then whatever they sign is essentially invalid, or only the parts they like are valid, and the ones they don’t like are not.