Belgrade: The European Union is ratcheting up pressure on Serbia so that it chooses a side in the EU-Russian row, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.
He spoke a day after hosting EU envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, the German chancellor’s foreign policy adviser Jens Ploetner and his French counterpart Emmanuel Bonne for what Lajcak described as “important in-depth discussions” on breakaway Kosovo.
“I was told that … everyone must speak out now about which side of the curtain they want to be on: the side of a vanishing or nonexistent economy or the side of success, where they stand,” Vucic said.
The Serbian leader accused world powers of being “unprincipled” and seeing Serbia as “collateral damage.”
The European Union has been pushing Serbia to recognize the independence of its province, Kosovo, and align with sanctions against Russia in order to move toward EU membership. Several EU nations do not recognize Kosovo for fear this would fuel separatism at home.
