No Kosovo or EU dilemma, SPS leader says

Source: Tanjug

KOPAONIK -- Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić stated Saturday that there was no “Kosovo or the EU dilemma”.

Ivica Dačić (FoNet, file)

He added that the only priority should be Serbia, for which joining the EU would be useful unless it jeopardized its national and state interests.
"We are in favor of the EU because it is in Serbia's interest. It is in the citizens' interest to live better, to be a part of a modern world, not to be isolated, to have no visas or obstacles to employment, to have free flow of goods, people and capital, but on the other hand, Serbia has other interests," Dačić underlined.

“I would like to say openly and honestly that there is no dilemma EU or Kosovo, at least not for the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and I assume our brotherly parties (coalition partners) United Serbia (JS) and Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) share our opinion,” he stated at JS Main Board session at Mount Kopaonik.

"We consider neither the EU nor Kosovo as priority, the only priority we have is Serbia," the minister and SPS leader said, adding that Serbia should join the EU, but with dignity and by defending its state and national interests.

Adding that negotiations with Europe were arduous, long and had certain particularities, Dačić underlined that "we will never do anything against national interests, but we will do as much as possible to join the EU."

"Kosovo was never a condition in the European agenda until the last several months, after the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Serbia when she said that Serbia should abolish parallel institutions in Kosovo. This means that Serbia should abolish the Serbs in Kosovo," he said, adding that if Merkel had interest in helping the Kosovo Albanians, he supposed that Serbia had interest in helping the Kosovo Serbs.