Belgrade "has no dispute" with Zagreb - PM

Belgrade "has no dispute" with Zagreb - PM

Vucic's comments came after Croatia on Friday blocked the opening of this chapter in Serbia's negotiations to join the EU.

"We have no dispute with Croatia. I do not know what is going on in Brussels, I don't even know what the weather is like in Brussels," the prime minister said.

In its report, Tanjug said he "spoke proceeding from the already presented position of the government that our country has done everything preparing for the opening of chapter 23, while it was leaving the question of Croatia's blockade to EU's institutions."

"We're not quarreling with anyone, we're not asking for anything from anyone. The only thing we asked for was that Serbia be respected. And nothing more," Vucic said, in response to reporters' questions, while touring Grdelica, where he opened a stretch of the Corridor 10 highway.

"If you are willing, thank you, if not - thank you again, as you please, just don't be saying that we are in any dispute," the prime minister has been quoted as saying. He added that Serbia's laws on election of minority representatives to parliament, and on the national courts jurisdiction in cases of war crimes committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia were both adopted several years ago.

He added that "Croats would not have any representatives in Serbian parliament if Serbia applied a law like the one in force in Croatia," and recalled that this ethnic minority in Serbia has "almost always" had its representatives in the National Assembly.

Vucic reiterated that Croatia "can say what it wants, because of its internal situation, but cannot say that there are any bilateral problems with Serbia."

"If not this, they would have certainly found some other reason, from 1983 or from 1992... just to have a pretext to attack Serbia," he added.

When it comes to the opening of chapter 23, Vucic said he "had no information from Brussels" and was leaving it to EU institutions to present their view "and say whether Serbia had done something wrong."

"Let them say what we have done wrong, and whether we were to blame in 2003 when we passed that law (on jurisdiction in war crimes cases). Let them say - the Djindjic government is to blame, or you are, such and such...," said Vucic.

He added that "otherwise, whichever government brought it, the law is good -because it enabled us to arrest war criminals."