Tadić, Josipović "good for region"

British journalist and expert on the Balkans Misha Glenny says that cooperation between Serbia and Croatia “is completely transforming this part of Europe”. He points out that Serbian President Boris Tadic and Croatian President Ivo Josipovic are playing an important role in this. Tadic, Josipovic "good for region" “There are still huge psychological-political problems in the region, but relations between Serbia and Croatia has transformed a large part of the region. These two countries are really cooperating in a way that’s pretty exceptional considering that they recently had traumatic experience in their relations,” he explained. “Nobody outside the region has noticed it, but that’s something that’s creating a complete transformation of this part of Europe. The issue of organized crime, cooperation between Croatian and Serbian police in very complex cases… Those are big things that are not getting enough credit. It’s absolutely right to point out the role of the two presidents, Tadic and Josipovic,” the British expert stressed. Stating that the Croatian president is not a politician by profession but that he is truly committed to eradicating corruption and organized crime, Glenny said that he “is a really nice refreshment when it comes to regional policy”. “Tadic has accepted all that and he is taking the same path. I recently tried to sell several articles about Tadic’s visit to Vukovar to European press. Nobody was especially interested and I thought how they were presenting Serbs as genocidal maniacs all the time and now we have a president who was in Srebrenica and then in Vukovar and Ovcara,” he pointed out. “In any case, he did it and good for him,” Glenny added. The British expert also commented on the upcoming dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and assessed that current problems, such as parliamentary crisis in Kosovo, would not represent a serious obstacle to the negotiations. “I think that all parties want progress, but we will have to wait and see whether they have diplomatic capacity to achieve that through talks. What I see as a good thing is that none of the participants in this race fell down at the first hurdle, or at the fourth and the fifth... All of them are still in the race and want a successfull outcome. So, it would be an overstatement to say that I'm an optimist, but it's still possible to achieve something,“ Glenny concluded. Boris Tadic and Ivo Josipovic

Tadić, Josipović "good for region"

“There are still huge psychological-political problems in the region, but relations between Serbia and Croatia has transformed a large part of the region. These two countries are really cooperating in a way that’s pretty exceptional considering that they recently had traumatic experience in their relations,” he explained.

“Nobody outside the region has noticed it, but that’s something that’s creating a complete transformation of this part of Europe. The issue of organized crime, cooperation between Croatian and Serbian police in very complex cases… Those are big things that are not getting enough credit. It’s absolutely right to point out the role of the two presidents, Tadić and Josipović,” the British expert stressed.

Stating that the Croatian president is not a politician by profession but that he is truly committed to eradicating corruption and organized crime, Glenny said that he “is a really nice refreshment when it comes to regional policy”.

“Tadić has accepted all that and he is taking the same path. I recently tried to sell several articles about Tadić’s visit to Vukovar to European press. Nobody was especially interested and I thought how they were presenting Serbs as genocidal maniacs all the time and now we have a president who was in Srebrenica and then in Vukovar and Ovčara,” he pointed out.

“In any case, he did it and good for him,” Glenny added.

The British expert also commented on the upcoming dialogue between Belgrade and Priština and assessed that current problems, such as parliamentary crisis in Kosovo, would not represent a serious obstacle to the negotiations.

“I think that all parties want progress, but we will have to wait and see whether they have diplomatic capacity to achieve that through talks. What I see as a good thing is that none of the participants in this race fell down at the first hurdle, or at the fourth and the fifth... All of them are still in the race and want a successfull outcome. So, it would be an overstatement to say that I'm an optimist, but it's still possible to achieve something,“ Glenny concluded.