After the denial of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday from Moscow on the alleged lobbying activities of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on behalf of Serbia for ethnic delimitation between Serbia and Kosovo, the denials came from Blair’s Institute for Global Change.
In an email to KoSSev late last night, signed by spokesperson Julie Crowley, with an apology for delays, the denials are contained in a one sentence response:
”Mr. Blair is absolutely not acting on behalf of the Serbia Government or President. Our Institute’s project is nothing to do with the Kosovo issue.”
The response followed our questions:
Are you personally or your Company in any contract activities & obligations or volunteer contribution with/to either Mr. Vucic, or any other Serbian official, party or Government on the Kosovo issue?
If so, could you please clarify your role?
Could you please deny or confirm the allegations by Mr. Vuk Jeremic and other media allegations on your personal role in lobbying for delimitation between Serbia and Kosovo/Albania?
„He (Blair) is not negotiating anything. I am negotiating, and this is the decision of both the executive authority and the government (of Serbia) and my decision. I accept it as a burden and obligation. My name is not Tony or whatever. My name is Aleksandar,“ Serbian President earlier told Pink TV.
The former Serbian Foreign Minister, and now one of the leaders of the opposition Alliance for Serbia, Vuk Jeremic, claimed the opposite.
„The most dangerous tactical maneuver on the issue of Kosovo is happening right now, the delimitation is being discussed more than ever. I repeat, Tony Blair is currently negotiating with the highest officials of the most powerful countries in the world on Serbia’s behalf,” he told TV N1 last week after returning from the UN General Assembly in New York, denying to reveal his source.
The issue became noteworthy to the Serbian public in the meantime, resulting in a heated discussion at the Serbian assembly.
Opposition New Party MP Zoran Zivkovic, who is also the former Prime Minister of Serbia, asked on which platform Tony Blair is conducting talks, under whose authority and under what conditions.
Alerts on the advisory role of the former British Prime Minister in the team of Aleksandar Vucic appeared before in 2015. „Tony Blair advising Serbian government 16 years after bombing of Belgrade“ – was the title in The Guardian.
„Blair will counsel Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic, once his outspoken critic, under a deal believed to be funded by the United Arab Emirates,“ wrote the paper back at the time.
Tony Blair was one of the leading advocates of the bombing of FR Yugoslavia in ’99 earning negative publicity in the Serbian public.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
