EU should have “more neutral” approach to Kosovo issue

Serbia’s Deputy PM Ivica Dacic has stated that Europe should have a more balanced and a neutral approach to the Kosovo issue. He added that Europe should also understand and respect legitimate interests of both Serbs and Albanians. EU should have “more neutral” approach to Kosovo issue “It is especially necessary to have a status neutral approach, especially because not all EU member states have recognize Kosovo’s independence,” the deputy PM told International Radio of Serbia, stressing that Serbia wanted to become an EU member and that it would do everything that did not violate its national and state interest in order to achieve that. “However, on the other hand, Serbia must not depend only on that, it has to turn to itself and that means that solve the problems it lives in independently from its European pathway,” Dacic stressed. He assessed that the postponement of the EU candidate status had caused great disappointment among the Serbian citizens. “It is certain that the Serbian citizens, regardless of the fact that the percentage of trust in the EU and the European pathway is dropping, are aware of the fact that it is in Serbia’s interest to be the EU member state, primarily because of the better life of the citizens. But on the other hand, we have come to the point that new conditions are constantly being set before Serbia,” the deputy PM explained. He said that the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal was completed in 2011, that the entire European agenda had been fulfilled and that Serbia still did not get the EU candidate status, even though the European Commission had given a recommendation to grant Serbia the candidate status. “We ended up without the candidacy in December primarily due to tensions in northern Kosovo that were caused by (Kosovo Prime Minister) Hashim Thaci who unilaterally sent his police and customs officers to the administrative crossings with Serbia and we ended up in a situation to practically have someone else decide about our fate,” Dacic stated. He added that this was a very bad message to the Balkan countries, completely contrary to the message that the European pathway and perspective lead toward easing of tensions and normalization of relations in the Balkans. The deputy PM and interior minister pointed to the results Serbia had achieved in combat against organized crime and illegal drug trafficking and crime in general. “When it comes to the most serious criminal acts such as murders, the clearance rate is between 80 and 90 percent, which is extremely high bearing in mind everything that has been happening in the previous years. I have to say that there have also been many operations aimed at police officers. Several hundreds of our members who were involved in some criminal activities or corruption have been arrested and tried,” he said. The minister assessed that security situation in Serbia was stable, stressing that there were places with latent possibility of conflicts, such as southern Serbia that had always acted as a system of communicating vessels with Kosovo. He noted, however, that the situation was currently peaceful there and that there were no drastic cases of violation of public peace and order and terrorist attacks. Ivica Dacic Tanjug

EU should have “more neutral” approach to Kosovo issue

“It is especially necessary to have a status neutral approach, especially because not all EU member states have recognize Kosovo’s independence,” the deputy PM told International Radio of Serbia, stressing that Serbia wanted to become an EU member and that it would do everything that did not violate its national and state interest in order to achieve that.

“However, on the other hand, Serbia must not depend only on that, it has to turn to itself and that means that solve the problems it lives in independently from its European pathway,” Dačić stressed.

He assessed that the postponement of the EU candidate status had caused great disappointment among the Serbian citizens.

“It is certain that the Serbian citizens, regardless of the fact that the percentage of trust in the EU and the European pathway is dropping, are aware of the fact that it is in Serbia’s interest to be the EU member state, primarily because of the better life of the citizens. But on the other hand, we have come to the point that new conditions are constantly being set before Serbia,” the deputy PM explained.

He said that the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal was completed in 2011, that the entire European agenda had been fulfilled and that Serbia still did not get the EU candidate status, even though the European Commission had given a recommendation to grant Serbia the candidate status.

“We ended up without the candidacy in December primarily due to tensions in northern Kosovo that were caused by (Kosovo Prime Minister) Hashim Thaci who unilaterally sent his police and customs officers to the administrative crossings with Serbia and we ended up in a situation to practically have someone else decide about our fate,” Dačić stated.

He added that this was a very bad message to the Balkan countries, completely contrary to the message that the European pathway and perspective lead toward easing of tensions and normalization of relations in the Balkans.

The deputy PM and interior minister pointed to the results Serbia had achieved in combat against organized crime and illegal drug trafficking and crime in general.

“When it comes to the most serious criminal acts such as murders, the clearance rate is between 80 and 90 percent, which is extremely high bearing in mind everything that has been happening in the previous years. I have to say that there have also been many operations aimed at police officers. Several hundreds of our members who were involved in some criminal activities or corruption have been arrested and tried,” he said.

The minister assessed that security situation in Serbia was stable, stressing that there were places with latent possibility of conflicts, such as southern Serbia that had always acted as a system of communicating vessels with Kosovo. He noted, however, that the situation was currently peaceful there and that there were no drastic cases of violation of public peace and order and terrorist attacks.