Vučić "convinced" Serbia will get start date

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vučić is convinced Serbia will get the start date for the EU accession talks, and "not only because of the agreement with Priština."

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It will also happen "because EU institutions had commended the government for achieving progress in almost all areas," the deputy PM told the Belgrade-based weekly NIN.

Vučić was also quoted as saying that he "believed the Kosovo Serbs would accept the Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Priština."

"They will work with their government. They do not have objections to what is in the agreement, but to what some think it means," he stated.

The minister, who also heads the ruling SNS party, noted that he was "not thinking about an early election, because his biggest concern at the moment was the economy."

"I have nightmares because of the condition the Serbian economy is in. The IMF said here two days ago we had to freeze public sector pays and reduce expenditure drastically, and we cannot raise taxes because that would further reduce economic activity. Is the answer going to be we will not freeze anything and reduce expenditure and administration, because the people love to hear that," Vučić asked.

He said there would be talks with Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, whose Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) opposes the IMF's recommendations, and added that the subject had to be discussed and a solution found to heal the Serbian economy, "even if it meant losing the next election."