Serbia and Macedonia Intent on Solving Diplomatic Crisis

Next week the staff of the Serbian Embassy in Macedonia will return. This is the result of a telephone conversation between Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Wednesday.

In a common press statement after the conversation, both leaders declared that they have agreed to solve their mutual misunderstandings:

Despite the political differences about several important political and regional issues, Serbia and Macedonia will try together not only to keep but also to improve friendly relations.

Also, after the agreement between President Vučić and Prime Minister Zaev, the foreign minister of both countries will meet each other on August 25 in Niš, to solve the diplomatic issues.

This week, Serbia withdrew the entire staff from its embassy in Skopje in response to “very offensive actions planned in Macedonia against Serbian interests.” It remains unclear what these “actions” actually consisted of.