In an interview with Serbian Pink TV, outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Zaev repeated his position that “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”.

Zaev made this comment early in his term in office, again in an interview with a Serbian TV station. It is seen as the rallying cry of Serbian nationalists and rejection of the independence of Kosovo. Asked by Pink whether he still stands by his comment, Zaev replied affirmatively, and went on describing how he used to work in Serbia and met his first girlfriend there.

I understand that. But at the same time you also understand , the leadership of Serbia and the people of Serbia understand that Kosovo is a problem that exists and should be resolved. Why? So Serbia can go forward. And so Kosovo can go forward. So all the countries in the region can move forward. Problems must be resolved. It was not easy to me, although it’s a completely different issue, the problem we had here. But it existed for 27 years. We accepted that truly we are the northern part of the historic Macedonia, Zaev told Pink. When asked again whether he stands by the “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” statement which he made then, Zaev replied “I say what I said then, it’s the same”.

The interview comes as Zaev is courting Albanian voters who he desperately needs to prop up his SDSM party, which is seriously down among ethnic Macedonian voters. For Albanians, any mention of Serbian rights over Kosovo is anathema.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic frequently cites the example of Macedonia sa evidence why Serbia would be foolish to give up on its national issues in exchange for the promise of EU integration. Under Zaev, Macedonia is being forced to change its name and national identity, and still the European Union did not approve the opening of EU accession talks.