Tadić: EU integration must continue

Serbia must not stop on its path towards obtaining EU candidate status, President Boris Tadic says. The Democratic Party (DS) presidential candidate said that candidate status had to be obtained by the end of 2008, and that the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) would be signed sooner or later. Tadic: EU integration must continue Tadic said that the fact that Holland and Belgium had opposed signing the SAA with Serbia had shown Belgrade the “reality” of the situation and the fact that “every EU country has its own agenda.” “Holland is very sensitive about war crimes, especially because the Dutch government fell when war in the former Yugoslavia began in the 1990s,” Tadic told Fox TV. He said that Serbia had to complete Hague cooperation in order to avoid violating state laws and international law which it was resting on in defense of its territorial integrity. The SAA had a big impact on economic relations between Serbia and the EU, Tadic said, and had nothing to do with sending an EU mission to Kosovo, or having Brussels tell Belgrade to choose between European integration and Kosovo. Tadic said that Serbia did not possess the necessary state instruments to implement the SAA or the CEFTA agreement in Kosovo, and that Belgrade and Pristina had signed these agreements separately. “But that does not mean that we are forgoing Kosovo, quite the opposite,” Tadic said, adding that Serbia could only defend Kosovo through European integration. Asked whether he was ready to sign the annex of the coalition agreement offered to the DS by the Democratic Party of Serbia and New Serbia for support in the coming elections, Tadic said that it was not of great importance, and that it was more important that his coalition partners were on the same wavelength as far as Serbia’s elementary state policies were concerned. “The annex of the coalition agreement has nothing to do with the defense of Kosovo. I do not need an inter-party agreement to defend the country’s integrity from what is already envisaged by the Constitution and my presidential duties,” Tadic said. He said that there was no “panic” over the second round of elections, but that there was a serious threat that these elections could nullify everything achieved since October 5, 2000. Boris Tadic (FoNet archive)

Tadić: EU integration must continue

Tadić said that the fact that Holland and Belgium had opposed signing the SAA with Serbia had shown Belgrade the “reality” of the situation and the fact that “every EU country has its own agenda.”

“Holland is very sensitive about war crimes, especially because the Dutch government fell when war in the former Yugoslavia began in the 1990s,” Tadić told Fox TV.

He said that Serbia had to complete Hague cooperation in order to avoid violating state laws and international law which it was resting on in defense of its territorial integrity.

The SAA had a big impact on economic relations between Serbia and the EU, Tadić said, and had nothing to do with sending an EU mission to Kosovo, or having Brussels tell Belgrade to choose between European integration and Kosovo.

Tadić said that Serbia did not possess the necessary state instruments to implement the SAA or the CEFTA agreement in Kosovo, and that Belgrade and Priština had signed these agreements separately.

“But that does not mean that we are forgoing Kosovo, quite the opposite,” Tadić said, adding that Serbia could only defend Kosovo through European integration.

Asked whether he was ready to sign the annex of the coalition agreement offered to the DS by the Democratic Party of Serbia and New Serbia for support in the coming elections, Tadić said that it was not of great importance, and that it was more important that his coalition partners were on the same wavelength as far as Serbia’s elementary state policies were concerned.

“The annex of the coalition agreement has nothing to do with the defense of Kosovo. I do not need an inter-party agreement to defend the country’s integrity from what is already envisaged by the Constitution and my presidential duties,” Tadić said.

He said that there was no “panic” over the second round of elections, but that there was a serious threat that these elections could nullify everything achieved since October 5, 2000.