In a statement for TV Prva, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that the Government of the Republic of Serbia would deliberate today on imposing a 14-day quarantine and negative PCR test requirement for entry into Serbia as well as on the list of countries, and that the same topic would be discussed tomorrow at the meeting of the Crisis Task Force.
Minister Dacic stressed that the decision had yet to be reached, adding that there were no indications as yet that Greece and Montenegro would open their borders for Serbian citizens.
As Minister Dacic said the decision on the quarantine and PCR test requirement for entry of foreign citizens into the Republic of Serbia was above all motivated by the need to protect the country epidemiologically.
"On the other hand, we also need to analyze the epidemiological situation in other countries individually, which is a practice in all other countries as well", Minister Dacic said for TV Prva.
He recalled that the Republic of Serbia had liberalized entry requirements but that the new wave of coronavirus peaked in the meantime, compelling many countries to impose limitations as to the entry of foreigners, the European Union as a whole included.
Entry into virtually all countries is not possible, he said, without a negative PCR test issued within a particular timeframe.
"We will examine the situation in individual countries and whether this is necessary. The decision has not been made yet and the matter will probably be discussed today and tomorrow by the relevant bodies in charge of these issues", Minister Dacic said.
Asked if there had been any indications that Greece and Montenegro would open their borders for Serbian citizens, Minister Dacic noted that this was not the case for now.
"Of course, when it comes to certain countries like Montenegro their attitude to our citizens is solely of political nature and not epidemiologically motivated, despite them claiming that the latter was the case. If one takes note of the countries to which they liberalized requirements for entry into Montenegro, it is easy to extrapolate certain conclusions from this in the political sense", Minister Dacic said.
He said that Croatia had adopted a measure that they deemed rational, having decided to nevertheless liberalize entry requirements because of tourists and allow entry to those having a negative PCR test on them and vacation package reservations.
"When it comes to Greece, there are no indications so far that they would change their decision. The European Union issued certain recommendations and put Serbia on the safe list at first, only to remove us from the list following the surge of new infections. These are merely recommendations, but the EU Member States do largely conform to them", Minister Dacic said.
The Minister said that the European Union was currently on vacation, that their institutions were on a break and that it was not likely to expect any updates to the list, probably not before late August at the earliest.
Dacic said that there were indications that Pristina was working with countries which had previously revoked their recognitions to have them terminate those decisions.
"They are taking advantage of the situation to achieve their goals. Should we conclude that they are not only failing to follow up on what was agreed but directly working against it, we will continue our campaign and without a doubt be much more successful than them", Minister Dacic conveyed.
Minister Dacic stressed that Belgrade had clearly said that it wanted compromise and dialogue, while refusing to be forced to agree to some prearranged solutions, adding that not only that Pristina did not want compromise, but that the entirety of their politics was based on lies as they would agree on and sign something first – only to refuse to implement it, as was the case with the Brussels Agreement and the Community of Serb Municipalities.
"The same happened when they agreed to a kind of a moratorium on their membership bids of international organizations, only to have Hoti say that they did not actually adhere to this. One cannot help but wonder about the purposefulness of such dialogue when you never know if what you agreed on stands or not", Minister Dacic said.
He recalled that Belgrade had agreed to Richard Grenell's request for a temporary moratorium on the campaign for de-recognition of the so-called "Kosovo", adding that this campaign would continue should it come to our attention that Pristina failed to comply with the agreement.
He said that Pristina counted on Serbia being weak, in belief that it was as weak now as it had been earlier and that it would have no choice but to succumb to pressures and threats and accept something, which was why it bothered them that Serbia was strong.
He conveyed that a strong Serbia was a precondition for a positive outcome in the resolution of this issue and that this was the reason for pressures and attacks on Serbia being so strong.
"At the same time, you could hear representatives of our opposition saying in the Russian media that the policy we pursued was characterized by an anti-Russian sentiment, i.e., Russophobia, suggesting that we worked against Russia. On the other hand, one could hear the U.S. media reprimanding Serbia for importing arms from China and the United States' warning in this connection. Criticism has been heard from the EU concerning our relations with Russia and China, and then you hear the same opposition criticizing us because of allegedly deteriorated relations with Russia, all in the context of their claim that Serbia would purportedly recognize the so-called Kosovo. This is all nonsense", Minister Dacic said.
The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is uncertain taking into account the circumstances in which it is carried out, said the First Deputy Prime Minister and conveyed that, despite all of this, strong Serbia was a precondition to have a positive outcome in the resolutions of this issue, which was why Serbia suffered pressures and attacks of such magnitude.
"It is not that the talks as such are uncertain, but that they are uncertain in the context of all the circumstances that characterized their course", Minister Dacic concluded.Original Article
