President: Signing SAA is state interest

President Boris Tadic says that signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement is in the country’s state interests. Tadic said that those who opposed signing the SAA were motivated by short-term political factors. President: Signing SAA is state interest "I don’t believe that anyone seriously believes that it’s in a country’s interests to be economically weak,“ he told daily Vecernje Novosti. The president said that the Kosovo status process and EU integration were two separate processes, which was why Serbia should not “link the political actors there irrevocably.“ “The way out is through what Serbia has thus far strongly advocated, which is that the two issues are separate processes. That’s how it should stay, as that way we can defend our province, while strengthening the country’s potential. If an athlete breaks both his legs before a race, it’s not a sign that he wants to win the race. Serbia must defend its interests at all levels, and there can be no surrender,“ said Tadic. He said that Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic had been authorized to sign the SAA, though the actual date had still to be confirmed, as it depended on the appraisal of Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. The president expressed his confidence that he would win the forthcoming presidential elections on January 20, since a policy that guaranteed stability, progress and certainty was in the interests of all the citizens. “I’m sure that the risk of a return to the uncertainty of the nineties cannot be an option, regardless of the efforts of the old regime to remodel themselves and hide their real intentions, presenting a false image of themselves,“ he concluded. Boris Tadic (FoNet, archive)

President: Signing SAA is state interest

"I don’t believe that anyone seriously believes that it’s in a country’s interests to be economically weak,“ he told daily Večernje Novosti.

The president said that the Kosovo status process and EU integration were two separate processes, which was why Serbia should not “link the political actors there irrevocably.“

“The way out is through what Serbia has thus far strongly advocated, which is that the two issues are separate processes. That’s how it should stay, as that way we can defend our province, while strengthening the country’s potential. If an athlete breaks both his legs before a race, it’s not a sign that he wants to win the race. Serbia must defend its interests at all levels, and there can be no surrender,“ said Tadić.

He said that Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić had been authorized to sign the SAA, though the actual date had still to be confirmed, as it depended on the appraisal of Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.

The president expressed his confidence that he would win the forthcoming presidential elections on January 20, since a policy that guaranteed stability, progress and certainty was in the interests of all the citizens.

“I’m sure that the risk of a return to the uncertainty of the nineties cannot be an option, regardless of the efforts of the old regime to remodel themselves and hide their real intentions, presenting a false image of themselves,“ he concluded.