EU not Belgrade’s priority - EP rapporteur

Belgrade politicians’ messages show that the EU is not among their priorities, European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin has stated. “At the moment when Croatia signed the EU Accession Treaty, which is a historic event and the biggest defeat of Euroskeptics in the EU, as if the next state, Serbia, wants to avoid the European agenda,” Kacin said. EU not Belgrade’s priority - EP rapporteur He told Radio Free Europe that messages that were currently coming from Belgrade “suggest that the European policy is no longer high on Serbian politicians’ agenda”. The EP rapporteur added that shifting blame for the failure to get the EU candidate status to Germany was wrong, pointing out that vast majority of the EU member states honestly and actively supported Serbia. “The Serbian citizens deserve to hear the truth and nothing but the truth from the mouth of their highest representatives,” Kacin stressed and repeated that the EU had never asked Serbia to recognize Kosovo and that not a single EU member state had unilaterally done this. Commenting on Serbian Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and President Boris Tadic’s statements that Serbia had been asked to recognize Kosovo, the rapporteur said: “I can only put this in a context of the situation that Serbia is in and that is the election climate and the election needs of certain parties. I did not take it as a statement of the president of the republic, but as a statement of the Democratic Party leader, who wants to win over that part of the electorate that is still dealing more with the past than with the future,” Kacin pointed out. He said that Tadic’s “goal is to probably send signals that he is defending some values and ideals at any cost”. “That does not have much in common with the reality and I don’t know what kind of impression he will have on the EU member states that expect Serbia to take the chance it has and to strengthen confidence in itself in the next few months and get the EU candidate status,” Kacin explained. “I think this does not lead anywhere. In fact, the public in Serbia does not even know at all that Kosovo is at the moment presiding over CEFTA and that not a single meeting, not a single event have been canceled so far. They have always found the way to make those events happen, to get all the member states, including Serbia, to participate. A debate about the (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244 represents unnecessary sand in the eyes of the Serbian public,” he concluded. Jelko Kacin

EU not Belgrade’s priority - EP rapporteur

He told Radio Free Europe that messages that were currently coming from Belgrade “suggest that the European policy is no longer high on Serbian politicians’ agenda”.

The EP rapporteur added that shifting blame for the failure to get the EU candidate status to Germany was wrong, pointing out that vast majority of the EU member states honestly and actively supported Serbia.

“The Serbian citizens deserve to hear the truth and nothing but the truth from the mouth of their highest representatives,” Kacin stressed and repeated that the EU had never asked Serbia to recognize Kosovo and that not a single EU member state had unilaterally done this.

Commenting on Serbian Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dačić and President Boris Tadić’s statements that Serbia had been asked to recognize Kosovo, the rapporteur said:

“I can only put this in a context of the situation that Serbia is in and that is the election climate and the election needs of certain parties. I did not take it as a statement of the president of the republic, but as a statement of the Democratic Party leader, who wants to win over that part of the electorate that is still dealing more with the past than with the future,” Kacin pointed out.

He said that Tadić’s “goal is to probably send signals that he is defending some values and ideals at any cost”.

“That does not have much in common with the reality and I don’t know what kind of impression he will have on the EU member states that expect Serbia to take the chance it has and to strengthen confidence in itself in the next few months and get the EU candidate status,” Kacin explained.

“I think this does not lead anywhere. In fact, the public in Serbia does not even know at all that Kosovo is at the moment presiding over CEFTA and that not a single meeting, not a single event have been canceled so far. They have always found the way to make those events happen, to get all the member states, including Serbia, to participate. A debate about the (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244 represents unnecessary sand in the eyes of the Serbian public,” he concluded.