Serbia's future "only in EU", says Tadić

Source: Beta, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Boris Tadić said on Sunday in Belgrade that Serbia's future was "exclusively in the EU", and that "that was the only place to solve the issue of Kosovo".

Boris Tadić is seen at the DS Main Board meeting

The Serbian president and ruling DS party leader also stated that this was "one of the most important national interests".
In an almost 50-minute address to the gathering of his party's main board, Tadić said "marching toward the European Union" was the country's principal strategic direction.

Adding that Serbia "never received such positive appraisal in its process of joining the EU" - as on Friday, when Brussels postponed its decision on making the country a candidate for membership - and while 25 of its member-states thought this status was deserved "by the depth of reforms", there was one reason such outcome did not materialize:

"Serbia did not become a candidate for one and only one reason, and that is a lack of solution to the issue of regional representation of Kosovo and Metohija."

Speaking about his party's policy of "both Kosovo and the EU", Tadić said that it was "not rigid while giving up on either of its ingredients would be "naive or dangerous".

He described policies that wish to give up on the country's legitimate interests as "naive", while those that place Kosovo "above human lives" - as "dangerous".