“I think that the Serbian side tried to be flexible, to find solutions, and this morning’s conversation (with Vučić) confirmed that to me,” said Christopher Hill in an interview for N1 when asked to comment. the meeting he had with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, about the situation in Kosovo and Metohija.
He added that it is “obvious” that the results of the negotiations in Brussels are a disappointment, but he expressed hope that the process will continue, which, he says, is indicated by the arrival of EU and US representatives Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar in the region.
Asked what “went wrong” during the last meeting between Vučić and the Prime Minister of Pristina’s temporary institutions, Aljbin Kurti, in Brusselssaid that the Serbian side “was in its place, it knew what it needed to discuss, it knew what was important”.
“But I think that the other side, unfortunately, was not ready for a concrete conversation,” said the ambassador.
To solve these problems, as Hill said, it is necessary to talk about concrete things, but you also have to put those things in a wider context, and the wider context is the issue of the Serbian community and how it will live in the future.
“That is key for me, the Serbian community in Kosovo must feel at home and be safe. That’s why certain efforts are being made to discuss it, and I think it will continue,” said Hill.
He expressed the hope that they will start solving broader and more important problems for the future of Kosovo, and especially the Serbian community, as well as that a solution to “very dangerous urgent problems” will be reached.
Recalling that he was also engaged during the negotiations in Rambouillet, Hill stated that it was “simply unbelievable” that after 23 years he encountered many similar problems when he returned to the region.
When asked if he thinks that people in the north would live better if they had a Union of Serbian Municipalities, he says that he is firmly convinced that the future of the Serbian community can be secured by creating some kind of mechanism, and that there are different models for that in the rest of Europe.
“So I think we should come up with some kind of joint arrangement for the Serbian community, something that will suit everyone,” Hill said.
Asked to comment on President Vučić’s statement that Kurti asked to renegotiate everything, he expressed the hope that Kurti did not think so.
“I think he wants to see everything and understand everything, as well as get acquainted with the details. I sincerely hope that he meant something like that, and not, as you say, renegotiating everything. Because, again, negotiations mean an agreement on both sides, not just one,” Hill said.
Asked to comment Minister Alexander Vulin’s visit to MoscowHill said that he doesn’t understand it and it’s quite confusing.
“I don’t understand what he was trying to achieve there. And, frankly, maybe he doesn’t either,” said Ambassador Hill, as reported by N1.
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