Ambassador Dr Dejan Popović
19 July 2013

SPEECH TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF ROCHESTER

Ladies and gentlemen,
I am really honoured to have this opportunity to address you, the members of the Rotary Club of Rochester. I stay humble in front of the people who contributed so much to my fellow countrymen, grateful for the role you played in helping those in need, especially in Kraljevo hit by an earthquake in 2010. Twinning with the Rotary Club of Kraljevo, mutual visits and contacts, direct and via Blythswood Care, aid that was being sent to Kraljevo region for over 10 years, given vulnerable socio-economic situation in that part of Serbia – these are just small pieces of evidence on how rich are the relations between Rochester and Kraljevo and between our two nations. In particular, I would like to thank you for the financial support to the Red Cross soup kitchen in that Serbian town.
In 2013 we are celebrating the one thousand seven hundredth anniversary of the Edict of Milan, enacted by the Roman emperor Constantine in AD 313, whereby Christianity was granted the status of an official religion in Rome. This event laid down foundations of the medieval and post-medieval European Christian civilisation and I mention it today because Constantine was born around AD 274 in the city of Naissus, in the province of Moesia, which is today Serbia's second largest city of Niš, just 90 miles from Kraljevo. In AD 306 Constantine was acclaimed as Augustus in York in another Roman province, Britannia (what is today United Kingdom). His amazing life excellently shows how ancient are the links between our two countries.
In the Middle Ages Serbia was a prosperous kingdom, while England was beginning its rise as a great European power. In the 15th century the realm of Serbia was conquered by the Ottomans. In early 19th century Serbia re-instated its independence. In 1837 the first British consul George Lloyd Hodges came to Serbia thus marking the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two nations. Now, 176 years later, I have had the honour of serving as Ambassador in a country with which we shared efforts to make the world a better place in both world wars in the past century. Serbia’s casualties in the Great War amounted to 1.2 million dead out of the total population of 4.5 million. In the Second World War the Serbs, especially those from Croatia and Bosnia also suffered terribly. These are the reasons why we highly appreciate the alliance with Britain in the wars that so dramatically shaped the history of the 20th century and the role the United Kingdom played in safeguarding the values on which our present world is based.
Once the democratic regime was established after overthrowing of Milošević in 2000, Serbia has been strongly committed to achieving its strategic goal of becoming an EU Member State. Both geographically and culturally Serbia belongs to Europe. 60 percent of our foreign trade is with the EU. The share of British exports to Serbia and our exports to the UK is however modest although steadily rising in recent years (400 million pounds annually). Let me mention that most of Serbia’s banks are now EU-owned. The bulk of FDIs comes from the EU.
Given the inherited problems in economy, functioning of the rule of law and, in the first place, with respect to the definition of the national territory, the path towards the European future has been a long one and there is still a number of years in front of us before Serbia secures its place in the large constellation of the European nations. As my country’s ambassador to the Court of St. James’s I have always felt the duty to convey the message that Serbia is like other European states – rich in culture, with economy struggling to re-establish itself on the path of growth, with public sector that requires cuts, with friendly people and some nasty individuals. Sir Henry Wotton once said that “an ambassador is an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country”. I hope that I made some success in avoiding such a temptation – not just today among the friends here in Rochester but throughout my tour of duty in the UK, which began in late 2008.
It has certainly been my greatest professional satisfaction lately to witness the constant development of relations, as the United Kingdom continues to support Serbia’s efforts to fulfil its strategic aim. It goes without saying that the UK is the strongest supporter of the EU enlargement, contrary to some other West European countries that from time to time project an “enlargement fatigue”.
It is my fifth year in the UK and while preparing for a soon return to Belgrade I often compare my previous notes, realising that Serbia’s progress on the path towards the EU was gradual but steady. I cannot resist the wish to quote British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury: „There is nothing dramatic in the success of a diplomatist. His victories are made up of a series of microscopic advantages“. Namely, during my tour of duty Serbia’s first benchmark was visa liberalisation with the Schengen states, then came the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and in 2012 the status of an EU candidate country. Finally, on 28 June 2013 the European Council decided to open the accession negotiations with Serbia.
What made this breakthrough possible was the so-called “Brussels Agreement” reached on 19 April 2013 between Belgrade and Priština under the auspices of Baroness Ashton. The Kosovo issue is extremely sensitive, not just from Serbia’s point of view. Kosovo is the cradle of the Serbian statehood and it is in its territory that some of the holiest monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church are located. After 1999, when Serbia’s state apparatus withdrew from Kosovo, over 200,000 Serbs were expelled by Albanians from their homes, while the remaining 120,000 have been grouped in two categories – those in the north of Kosovo who kept their ties with Serbia proper almost intact and those south of the river Ibar who are scattered in a number of enclaves in the Albanian-dominated territory and eventually accepted integration into Kosovo Albanian political and legal system.
The 1999 UN Security Council resolution 1244 defined Kosovo as a constituent part of Serbia under UN protection until a final solution is reached. In 2008 Kosovo Albanians unilaterally declared its independence, which was recognised by 23 EU Member States and, as time went by, by a half of UN members. Serbia does not recognise, explicitly or implicitly, the unilaterally declared independence, along with 5 EU Member States (Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus), Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and about 90 other countries. However, a kind of normalisation of the relations between Belgrade and Priština was required by the EU for a bar to be lifted enabling Serbia to continue along its path towards the EU membership. 
Ten meetings involving Catherine Ashton and Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo have taken place between October 2012 and the end of April 2013. In the first part of the high-level dialogue until December 2012 the discussions dealt with the set of what was considered “easier issues”, such as completion of IBM implementation, customs collection and establishing of a fund for the development of northern Kosovo, religious and cultural heritage and liaison arrangements. Some first significant results were already achieved in those first months. In the second part of the high-level dialogue, since January 2013, the meetings of the two Prime Ministers focused on northern Kosovo and delivering structures which meet the security and justice needs of the local population in a way that ensures the functionality of a single institutional and administrative set-up in Kosovo, in line with the December 2012 Council conclusions. Namely, north of the river Ibar in Kosovo around 50,000 Serbs live constituting almost 95% of the population and not recognising Priština authorities, which they deem separatist. The crux of the problem was how to meet the EU requirement to close down Serb “parallel” institutions – the only ones they consider legitimate – and introduce Serbs’ local government into Kosovo’s institutional and administrative framework in a neutral manner, which would permit Serbs to feel secure after decades of exposure to various kinds of threats coming from their Albanian neighbours. During their talks, the two sides agreed that the outcome of their discussions should be a set of principles and arrangements that would give the Kosovo Serb community a new vision of their future, by addressing their concerns and needs but in a way that preserved the functionality of the Kosovo institutions and legal framework. Having said this, I would point out that the Agreement eventually reached on 19 April 2013 by no means implies Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo independence. It is neutral in respect of the status of Kosovo – the Albanian side will continue to consider these institutions as the institutions of a sovereign state, while Serbia will consider them as the institutions of the self-rule within its autonomous province.
The Agreement provides for the establishment of the Community of Serb municipalities in Kosovo which will function within the existing legal framework of Kosovo. The Community will have its Statute and its own bodies on the basis of the other existing Association in Kosovo and will be represented in the central government. As for police, the Agreement affirms the principle of a single police force in Kosovo and the integration of all police in northern Kosovo with the Kosovo Police. A regional Police commander will be appointed for the four northern municipalities. He will be selected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo from a list provided by the four Serb mayors. On judiciary, an Appellate Court in Priština shall be established to deal with all Kosovo Serb majority municipalities and a division of this Court will sit permanently in northern Mitrovica. It is my understanding that the judges would also be predominantly Serbs thus reflecting the ethnic composition of these municipalities. Municipal elections, according to the Agreement, will be organised in the northern municipalities in 2013 with the OSCE facilitation. The two parties have agreed that neither side will block, or encourage others to block the other side's progress in their respective EU paths.
The Commission’s final report states that throughout the high-level process the two sides showed commitment and engagement. The two Prime Ministers in particular established a good working relationship and demonstrated political courage and maturity in discussing issues of great sensitivity and complexity, often against difficult political atmosphere. Based on such assessments, the Council proposed to the European Council to open accession negotiations with Serbia and decided to commence negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo*. Let me reiterate that the European Council decided on 28 June 2013 to open the accession negotiations with Serbia.
As the accession talks develop and focus on different chapters of acquis, Serbia will continue to transform preparing for the full membership hopefully by the end of this decade. We will definitively need friends along this path and I am absolutely sure that friendships like this one forged with Kraljevo during hard times that town endured recently will prove themselves essential in the years to come. I hope that my today’s presentation contributed slightly to better understanding of the current situation in Serbia and our strategic objectives. But it is time to stop. It was British Prime Minister David Lloyd George who once said that “diplomats were invented simply to waste time”. Therefore I would rather stay available to answer any question you may want to ask.