A couple of days ago, the newspaper “Danas” published the text of the French-German proposal of the Basic agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, which they received through diplomatic channels. The published draft text was evidently translated from English, and not very skillfully at that. However, after the address of President Vucic on Monday night, when he relatively precisely quoted the provisions of that proposal, it is clear that the text reported by “Danas” is authentic, either completely or with some minor deviations. The same is clear from the interview from earlier that day given by the president of the Assembly committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun, who, according to his own words, saw the original proposal.

President Vucic also said that this proposal was put before him by the European and US representatives with a sort of ultimatum: accept this or we will suspend the visa-free travel regime for the citizens of Serbia across the EU, stop the EU accession process and cut off access to EU funds, as well as suspend US and EU investment in Serbia, which would cause serious damage to, if not a collapse of the Serbian economy. We cannot know whether the Western envoys really threatened Vucic so severely due to his by now proverbial loose attitude towards the truth. This will remain unknown until some US or European official, or some media with reliable sources in foreign governments, confirms the content of said threats. But let’s assume for the moment that the pressure on Serbia, and most probably similar pressure on Kosovo, really are as severe as he claims.