Analyst: Serbia needs compromise

1 August 2010 | 09:46 | Source: B92

BELGRADE -- Political analyst Predrag Simić said that the visit of Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas to Belgrade can be seen as an effort to ease tensions. Even though Greece does not have that much influence within the European Union, its membership does have enough weight to try and ease the current tensions between Belgrade and Brussels. Simić said that he expects EU officials from other countries to be visiting Belgrade as well in the coming days in order to preserve good relations with Belgrade and try to find a way to move the stances of Belgrade and Brussels closer to one another. “The question is whether Serbia wants to find itself facing the European Union and mobilizing votes of the world against votes from the organization it wants to join. If Serbia is not able to do this, it would be a serious blow. I think it would be best for Serbia to reach a compromise in the next month and to agree on an approach between Belgrade and Brussels at the UN General Assembly,” Simić told B92. “As we see, the EU is still divided on the Kosovo issue and it appears that the visit of the Greek minister is an effort to get two speeding trains onto parallel tracks which should lead them to a compromise. For Serbia, a loss or a win in relations with the EU is not what it really wants to receive,” Simić said. Droutsas stated on Saturday that the EU has yet to submit a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly regarding its stance on the Kosovo issue, while Serbia sent its draft resolution several days ago.