FM speaks about Kosovo in Constitution, Milosevic, Croatia

FM speaks about Kosovo in Constitution, Milosevic, Croatia

The Beta agency reported that Dacic told a news conference on Sunday that "during the negotiations on membership and the opening and closing of chapters, Serbia would receive certain demands which it had to fulfill in order to become a member of the EU, and which were 'connected with changes in certain laws, and even the Constitution'."

"This does not refer to the preamble. If there are changes to the Constitution, they will be when everything that needs to be changed in the Constitution is examined, and that does not at all have to do with the question, as someone is simplistically saying, of having to annul the preamble so as to avoid the issue of Kosovo. That was not a topic in any of the discussions in the EU, at all," Dacic stated.

He also commented on last week's visit by American Vice-President Joseph Biden and "pointed out that it was very important for Serbia that, for the first time, a high-ranking American official had expressed regret because of the victims of the NATO bombardment in 1999 and that, for the first time, it had been clearly stated to the Pristina authorities that they would lose the support of the United States if the Community of Serbian Municipalities is not formed."

During the news conference, Dacic also denied that work was being done to rehabilitate former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, "or that anyone was glorifying the 1990s."

Responding to criticism coming from some opposition parties, Dacic said that history would judge Milosevic, while there should be no divisions in Serbia's society when it comes to the country not being responsible for the crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"The prime minister has not criticized us because of the recent statements about Milosevic," he said, adding that "the whole thing was the subject of a political campaign launched by those parties that live off Milosevic, even though he is dead."

Dacic also spoke about relations with Croatia, saying that "Serbia only reacts to facts, such as rehabilitation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Ustashas in Croatia."

According to the Serbian government's website, he announced a series of international meetings involving both Serbian and Croatian representatives.

"We are ready to invest maximum efforts, but this is not about whether we like it or not, but about the interests," he said, expressing the hope that after the elections in Croatia we will be able to talk normally with representatives of that country.

Dacic "rejected threats of Croatia that Serbia will not enter the EU and stories about Greater Serbia, posing the question about the concept of a Greater Serbia today when there are four percent of Serbs in Croatia, compared to 14 percent before Operation Storm," the government said.

He added that the protests of Croatian representatives against the Serbian law on universal jurisdiction are pointless because the European Commission thoroughly discussed the subject and rejected all Croatian arguments.

Dacic also said that "some of the big powers are making huges pressures on those countries that have not recognized the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo."

He pointed out that Serbia will do all it can to be in constant communication with those countries that have not recognized Kosovo's independence, so that their position remains unchanged.

Dacic added that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the government in Pristina is visiting all these countries in order to change their attitude, and he recently as a private person attended a summit of Caribbean countries.