Tadić: Integrity before integration

President Boris Tadic says that if he had to choose between European integration and Serbia’s integrity, he would choose the latter. “If, at the end of my presidential mandate, I’m forced into choosing between a European future and the country’s integrity, I’ll choose the country’s integrity,” said Tadic in an interview with Belgrade daily Standard. Tadic: Integrity before integration However, he added that no such condition had as yet been set. The president added that for this reason he was not acting “like a man who is crossing a bridge that takes five years to cross,“ but rather in the desire to continue both Serbia’s economic consolidation and the battle for Kosovo. “Because, what’s most important is that the EU is unable to set such a condition for Serbia, when, within the EU itself, there are countries that won’t recognize an independent Kosovo,“ he said. Tadic said that he was leading a responsible national policy, and that the interests of his Democratic Party (DS) were secondary to those of the state, whose importance could not be surpassed. Speaking of Serbian tycoons and monopolists, the president said that those representing public interests, such as the prosecution, the courts, the police, should just get on with their jobs. “In the same way I’m not asking for leniency, I don’t expect big capitalists to do so either. I respect them, but definitely not in a personal way, nor is that directed towards any individuals, because my job is to defend public interests,” he stressed. Asked if his party was financed by big capitalists, Tadic said that “political or economical practice are the best ways to show whether you depend on somebody with big money or not.” “I hope that with what we have started, none of the big capitalists will be able to tell me that we are representatives of their interests,” he said, adding that it was important to build a society where laws and rules of conduct were respected. It was very important, according to the president, that there had been no big scandals since the DS entered government, “because all scandals are a thing of the past.” Asked if he could imagine the DS in opposition after the elections, Tadic said that such a possibility always existed but that he did not believe that Serbian citizens would vote for a political option that did not lead the country towards the EU, “because that is a question of existence, life, people’s livelihoods, and the elementary sustainability of the whole system and the country itself.” Boris Tadic (Tanjug, archive)

Tadić: Integrity before integration

However, he added that no such condition had as yet been set.

The president added that for this reason he was not acting “like a man who is crossing a bridge that takes five years to cross,“ but rather in the desire to continue both Serbia’s economic consolidation and the battle for Kosovo.

“Because, what’s most important is that the EU is unable to set such a condition for Serbia, when, within the EU itself, there are countries that won’t recognize an independent Kosovo,“ he said.

Tadić said that he was leading a responsible national policy, and that the interests of his Democratic Party (DS) were secondary to those of the state, whose importance could not be surpassed.

Speaking of Serbian tycoons and monopolists, the president said that those representing public interests, such as the prosecution, the courts, the police, should just get on with their jobs.

“In the same way I’m not asking for leniency, I don’t expect big capitalists to do so either. I respect them, but definitely not in a personal way, nor is that directed towards any individuals, because my job is to defend public interests,” he stressed.

Asked if his party was financed by big capitalists, Tadić said that “political or economical practice are the best ways to show whether you depend on somebody with big money or not.”

“I hope that with what we have started, none of the big capitalists will be able to tell me that we are representatives of their interests,” he said, adding that it was important to build a society where laws and rules of conduct were respected.

It was very important, according to the president, that there had been no big scandals since the DS entered government, “because all scandals are a thing of the past.”

Asked if he could imagine the DS in opposition after the elections, Tadić said that such a possibility always existed but that he did not believe that Serbian citizens would vote for a political option that did not lead the country towards the EU, “because that is a question of existence, life, people’s livelihoods, and the elementary sustainability of the whole system and the country itself.”