DS leader confident his party "will be in next government"

BELGRADE Opposition Democratic Party leader Dragan Djilas says his party "managed to force the government show the text of the Serbian president's platform on Kosovo". This, according to Djilas - who also serves as mayor of Belgrade - "proved that Tomislav Nikolic's policy was unacceptable, that the government had dissociated itself from it and that Serbia had two policies on Kosovo". DS leader confident his party "will be in next government" Speaking for B92 in Belgrade on Monday, Djilas said that it was important for the citizens to know the contents of the adopted resolution on Kosovo Metohija and what it relied on. “The SNS and the SPS knew that the platform could not be an accepted document and therefore allowed Tomislav Nikolic to send it to the international community, SANU (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) and to Kosovo Serbs. They did not have the courage to say that Tomislav Nikolic's policy was disastrous and that they did not stand behind it,” said Djilas. He said that Nikolic "continued pursuing the same policy he had been pursuing in the 1990s, when he had been talking about the Karlovac-Virovitica border". “When he wrote the platform he did the same thing. He wrote a platform where he projected an end to the negotiations with the EU, where he projected that if there was no agreement on everything, everything would be called off,” he said. The SNS should apologize to Serbian citizens for proposing Tomislav Nikolic as their election candidate only to give up on his policy five months later, the DS leader believes. “The big problem for Vucic and Daci is in that they cannot say that the platform is a lie and deception, a populist and unrealistic document that offers a termination of the negotiations,” said Djilas. “But I am glad that they rejected Nikolic's policy,” he added. “People need someone to tell them what lies ahead,” Djilas said. “If we fail in getting a date (for the start of EU membership talks) in six months, we will not get it in the next year and a half, and if you shut the door to negotiations, you will turn off the light in Serbia," he stated, and pledged that his party would be the one that will "not allow the light to be turned off". The next government "will not be without the Democrats", their leader further asserted, and announced that the party would present its platform "with a strategy for the coming decades". He also accused the authorities of conducting "political persecution": "Serbia is whispering, keeping quiet and being afraid. Political persecution is ongoing, organizations such as 1389 are being amnestied, lists are being made, and nobody's reacting." Djilas at the same time rejected accusations that his approach toward SNS leader and First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic was "appeasing", saying that he had faith in Vucic's energy when it came to the anti-corruption campaign, but also noting that it was "his responsibility to prevent everything that has been happening in Serbia". Dragan Djilas (Beta, file) B92 Tanjug

DS leader confident his party "will be in next government"

Speaking for B92 in Belgrade on Monday, Đilas said that it was important for the citizens to know the contents of the adopted resolution on Kosovo Metohija and what it relied on.

“The SNS and the SPS knew that the platform could not be an accepted document and therefore allowed Tomislav Nikolic to send it to the international community, SANU (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) and to Kosovo Serbs. They did not have the courage to say that Tomislav Nikolić's policy was disastrous and that they did not stand behind it,” said Đilas.

He said that Nikolić "continued pursuing the same policy he had been pursuing in the 1990s, when he had been talking about the Karlovac-Virovitica border".

“When he wrote the platform he did the same thing. He wrote a platform where he projected an end to the negotiations with the EU, where he projected that if there was no agreement on everything, everything would be called off,” he said.

The SNS should apologize to Serbian citizens for proposing Tomislav Nikolić as their election candidate only to give up on his policy five months later, the DS leader believes.

“The big problem for Vučić and Dači is in that they cannot say that the platform is a lie and deception, a populist and unrealistic document that offers a termination of the negotiations,” said Đilas. “But I am glad that they rejected Nikolić's policy,” he added.

“People need someone to tell them what lies ahead,” Đilas said.

“If we fail in getting a date (for the start of EU membership talks) in six months, we will not get it in the next year and a half, and if you shut the door to negotiations, you will turn off the light in Serbia," he stated, and pledged that his party would be the one that will "not allow the light to be turned off".

The next government "will not be without the Democrats", their leader further asserted, and announced that the party would present its platform "with a strategy for the coming decades".

He also accused the authorities of conducting "political persecution":

"Serbia is whispering, keeping quiet and being afraid. Political persecution is ongoing, organizations such as 1389 are being amnestied, lists are being made, and nobody's reacting."

Đilas at the same time rejected accusations that his approach toward SNS leader and First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić was "appeasing", saying that he had faith in Vučić's energy when it came to the anti-corruption campaign, but also noting that it was "his responsibility to prevent everything that has been happening in Serbia".