New conditions possible, deputy PM says

Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has stated that a new condition for Serbia’s EU accession could be the country’s financial capability. “I have read in our documents that a western European country is requesting to set a new condition for Serbia aside the current ones, and that is whether it is capable of being a part of the European zone,” he stressed. New conditions possible, deputy PM says The deputy PM said that it was “distasteful for someone to talk about whether Serbia can financially be a part of Europe at the moment when eurozone is falling apart”. He has assessed that this indicates that new conditions, that other countries did not have to face, could be set before Serbia. Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Director Milica Delevic told B92 that the economic criterion applied to all countries that were interested in joining the EU. “The economic criterion has been one of the criteria which applies to countries that are interested in the EU membership since 1993 and Copenhagen. And if you look at the opinion that the (European) Commission published on October 12 on our request and any other report published in the previous years, you will see that the Commission is giving an assessment of macroeconomic stability, challenges, reforms and financial sustainability,” She explained. Dacic stated on Saturday that “Serbia should never renounce its goals to protect the citizens and their better standard but without losing its dignity along the way”. He pointed out that better conditions for Serbian citizens could be found in the European integration but pointed out that “Serbia must not pay a price of losing its national dignity and causing permanent damage to the national and state interests”. The deputy prime minister stated that the Serbian people “do not have enough marketing skills and they have therefore let themselves, the people who suffered greatly in wars for their own freedom, become a synonym for a conqueror of somebody else’s territories”. “We have let the Serbs, who were the greatest victims of the wars, become a synonym for war criminals, those who conquer somebody’s else’s territories and jeopardize peace all over the world just because we think that the truth is enough and that it does not need to be advertized,” Dacic stressed. He explained that the first step toward strengthening of Serbia was restoring of self-confidence in people because, as he said, consequences of such state lead to frustrations and irrational behavior such as anti-European attitude and feelings that there is an international conspiracy against Serbia. Ivica Dacic

New conditions possible, deputy PM says

The deputy PM said that it was “distasteful for someone to talk about whether Serbia can financially be a part of Europe at the moment when eurozone is falling apart”.

He has assessed that this indicates that new conditions, that other countries did not have to face, could be set before Serbia.

Serbian government’s EU Integration Office Director Milica Delević told B92 that the economic criterion applied to all countries that were interested in joining the EU.

“The economic criterion has been one of the criteria which applies to countries that are interested in the EU membership since 1993 and Copenhagen. And if you look at the opinion that the (European) Commission published on October 12 on our request and any other report published in the previous years, you will see that the Commission is giving an assessment of macroeconomic stability, challenges, reforms and financial sustainability,” She explained.

Dačić stated on Saturday that “Serbia should never renounce its goals to protect the citizens and their better standard but without losing its dignity along the way”.

He pointed out that better conditions for Serbian citizens could be found in the European integration but pointed out that “Serbia must not pay a price of losing its national dignity and causing permanent damage to the national and state interests”.

The deputy prime minister stated that the Serbian people “do not have enough marketing skills and they have therefore let themselves, the people who suffered greatly in wars for their own freedom, become a synonym for a conqueror of somebody else’s territories”.

“We have let the Serbs, who were the greatest victims of the wars, become a synonym for war criminals, those who conquer somebody’s else’s territories and jeopardize peace all over the world just because we think that the truth is enough and that it does not need to be advertized,” Dačić stressed.

He explained that the first step toward strengthening of Serbia was restoring of self-confidence in people because, as he said, consequences of such state lead to frustrations and irrational behavior such as anti-European attitude and feelings that there is an international conspiracy against Serbia.