Pejčinović: Vulin questioned the sovereignty of Croatia

The decision of the Serbian government to declare Minister of Defense Damir Krstičević a persona non grata does not contribute to good neighborly relations, as he has not acted against Serbia in any way, while Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin has questioned the sovereignty of Croatia, stated the Croatian Foreign Minister in Brussels on Friday.

“The relations between Serbia and Croatia are burdened, and therefore all statements coming from the official level must be responsible and measured. This is not the case when such statements are made by (Serbian Minister of Defense) Aleksandar Vulin. All his statements are in complete contradiction to good neighborly relations, and his latest statements were even more than that; they were a threat to the sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia, and we based our note from last week on his statements that aimed to question the sovereignty of Croatia,” said Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić in Brussels.

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“We had no other choice but to react this way, and every sovereign state would react the same way,” added the minister, who is participating in a meeting of foreign ministers from 29 NATO member countries at NATO headquarters.

The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs sent a note to the Serbian embassy in Zagreb on Saturday condemning Vulin’s statement that his arrival in Croatia “can be decided by the Supreme Commander of the Army of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, and Croatian ministers cannot decide on this at all,” and declared him a “persona non grata.”

This statement by Vulin was assessed as “an inappropriate and unacceptable attempt to deny the sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia.”

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The Serbian government reacted to this on Thursday, declaring Minister of Defense Damir Krstičević a persona non grata.

“The note given by the Serbian government yesterday is not a way to build good neighborly relations because Minister Krstičević has not acted against Serbia in any way, so we believe that the theses in that note are completely reversed in relation to what we stated in our note. We are very committed to creating good neighborly relations, but I think that such outbursts and such actions complicate and reduce the space for joint action,” said the minister.

The minister emphasized that Croatia intends to continue working with Serbia on open issues, which are too important and numerous to be neglected.

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“Our approach is very pragmatic; we need to work on open issues. The question of the rest of the relations will develop at a pace that is possible, and for now, our most important focus is working on open issues. The fact that a meeting of the working group for refugees and missing persons was held yesterday is evidence of this. This is one of the most important issues in our relations, and we intend to continue working on other open issues, such as border issues or our minority in Serbia,” concluded Minister Pejčinović Burić.