DSS: Serbia should abandon EU membership bid

BELGRADE -- The opposition DSS party on Friday in Belgrade urged the Serbian authorities to immediately abandon their negotiations with the European Union.

The next step for the country should be to declare political neutrality, the party, led by former Yugoslav President and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, reiterated.

A statement issued by DSS Vice-President Nenad Popović noted that "currently, the British wish to leave that Union".

"At a time when key EU members wish to leave the organization, our government is giving up on Kosovo and Metohija step by step for the sake of joining the EU," he asserted.

If a referendum were to be held in Britain now, that country would leave, while at the same time, "Serbia is paying too steep a price in order to join a political alliance that may not even exist in a few years' time," said Popović.

"Our country," he added in his statement, "should maintain best possible economic relations with the EU that will be in our mutual interest, but should also be open for cooperation with Russia, China, the Arab world, and all other partners who wish to cooperate with Serbia on an equal footing and without setting political conditions."