DSS: EU membership only with Kosovo

Opposition DSS wants Serbian senior officials to tell French FM Bernard Kouchner that Serbia will only join the EU with Kosovo as its inalienable part. “In the meetings with Kouchner, Serbian government officials must ask if the European Union wants all of Serbia and whether the stance that Kosovo is not our neighbor but an inalienable part of our country is clear to him,” Democratic Party of Serbia spokesman Petar Petkovic said today in Belgrade. DSS: EU membership only with Kosovo He added that “the messages of European officials, even Kouchner are clear – Serbia is being asked openly to recognize Kosovo and establish good relations with all neighbors in order to enter the EU.” “Serbia should move towards Europe, but not with the policy of Europe having no alternative, but with the construction of partner relations, in order to show the European institutions that there will be no integration without Kosovo,” Petkovic said. DSS official Andreja Mladenovic, who was present at the same news conference, spoke about the economy and said that prices of gas and fuel derivates in Serbia were a lot higher than anywhere else in the region, adding that the fall in the value of the domestic currency is causing new price increases. “The value of the euro has gone over 100 dinars, and that means that while electricity, telephone, cable and other services are increasing in price, the nominal value of wages keeps falling. In relation to December of last year, the average wage has decreased by 20 percent,” he said. “Maybe the ministers can live through this wave of price increases, but the citizens cannot,” Mladenovic said, adding that this was another reason for calling new elections to “end the agony that began in 2008 when the Serbian government was formed by tycoons and foreign ambassadors.”

DSS: EU membership only with Kosovo

He added that “the messages of European officials, even Kouchner are clear – Serbia is being asked openly to recognize Kosovo and establish good relations with all neighbors in order to enter the EU.”

“Serbia should move towards Europe, but not with the policy of Europe having no alternative, but with the construction of partner relations, in order to show the European institutions that there will be no integration without Kosovo,” Petković said.

DSS official Andreja Mladenović, who was present at the same news conference, spoke about the economy and said that prices of gas and fuel derivates in Serbia were a lot higher than anywhere else in the region, adding that the fall in the value of the domestic currency is causing new price increases.

“The value of the euro has gone over 100 dinars, and that means that while electricity, telephone, cable and other services are increasing in price, the nominal value of wages keeps falling. In relation to December of last year, the average wage has decreased by 20 percent,” he said.

“Maybe the ministers can live through this wave of price increases, but the citizens cannot,” Mladenović said, adding that this was another reason for calling new elections to “end the agony that began in 2008 when the Serbian government was formed by tycoons and foreign ambassadors.”