James O’Brien, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Asia, told RTS that he wants all agreements and their provisions reached during the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue to be respected, but also that the most important thing is for Serbs in the southern Serbian province to live as normal European citizens.
“And the Community of Serb Municipalities is an important step, it is important to make progress even before the Community is formed. It is important that people live normally, that marriages are registered, children are born, and we are working on all of that simultaneously. There have been obligations since 2015, when they were first signed, I cannot promise a deadline, but the most important thing is that Serbs live as normal European citizens,” said O’Brien.
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He added that the United States is not the place where the two sides’ talks take place, but that they are very active on the ground.
“It is important to protect the citizens of all nationalities”, said O’Brien.
He also emphasized that the goal is to talk about practical things – how to speed up the flow of goods, why it is in everyone’s interest to open crossings and for raw materials from central Serbia to enter the province so that production can continue.
“Opening the crossings is a success. A lot of traffic is being directed to the crossing”, said O’Brien.
O’Brien assessed Pristina’s behavior and the fact that it does not coordinate its moves with the US as a desire of the temporary institutions to show power, rather than to work for the people.
“There are consequences for that, and the biggest one was when large European countries did not allow Kosovo to join the Council of Europe. All that because there is no coordination”, said O’Brien.
He added that he would not insist on sanctions against Pristina, as they are applied when it comes to corruption or human rights protection.
“Problems are solved through talks”, O’Brien said.
Speaking about European integration, he said that the US wants all Western Balkan countries to move towards the European Union, and that the Growth Plan is an important step in that sense.
“Serbia is the largest economy and the region will not be able to progress if Serbia is not integrated. Old conflicts can only hold Serbia back on that path”, said O’Brien. He also emphasized that all regional economies should be integrated, and that is the goal of the Growth Plan.
“The Growth Plan highlights and brings what is useful for integration, it is important that the transfer of money is cheaper”, said James O’Brien.
“It is important that the US and Serbia talk about important things”
When it comes to relations between Serbia and the US, O’Brien emphasizes that it is important that the two countries talk about important things and that the relationship is becoming more mature.
“We talked last night about bilateral cooperation in the areas of security and defense. We are pleased that you are supporting Ukraine and Zelenskyy. We want to improve our cooperation,” said O’Brien.
He recalled that last week an American company signed a contract to build solar power plants, which, he emphasized, is very important for Serbia.
“It will bring cleaner air and enable Serbia to export electricity throughout the region”, said James O’Brien.
According to him, after the elections, cooperation will continue. “We want Serbia to move towards Europe and for its economy to progress”, said O’Brien.
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Source: RTS
Photo: F. S./ATAImages