Laws inspired by "EU-fanaticism" blamed for crisis

BELGRADE In an "euphoria of Euro fanaticism", Serbia adopted a series of laws without being ready to "see them through", Agriculture Minister Goran Knezevic has said. According to him, one such law concerned setting the aflatoxin level at 0.05 micrograms per liter of milk. Laws inspired by "EU-fanaticism" blamed for crisis "It's fine to be enamoured with European laws, but the point is that they should be implementable. We sens limit of 0.05 for aflatoxins, although we did not first put in place our internal organization, laboratories and control system, so that we could see it through," Knezevic told B92 in Belgrade on Monday. The minister once again stressed that milk sold in Serbian stores was safe, and added that the state "reacted in a timely manner": "As soon as we saw that there was a problem in the neighboring countries, we took 300 samples. When samples showed up returning different results, it became obvious that there was a possibility that something was contaminated. We quickly withdrew (some milk products from stores) and sent the samples to Holland." Asked why the authorities failed to inform the citizens at that point, Knezevic said the state was "informing, but not creating panic". The minister added he "could not wait to go to the police and say everything he knew", but that he also "could not wait for Goran Jesic to do the same". Jesic, an official of the Vojvodina provincial government and of the opposition DS party, last week revealed on Twitter the results of some milk tests that showed increased aflatoxin contamination. "Let him also repeat his statement that someone had offered him money to keep quiet, which would be a serious crime. 20 minutes after he made the statement, he said it was made in the heat of the moment. And then you consider him to be in the right, after behaving like that," Knezevic told B92. Knezevic addresses reporters at PKB last Friday (Tanjug) B92

Laws inspired by "EU-fanaticism" blamed for crisis

"It's fine to be enamoured with European laws, but the point is that they should be implementable. We sens limit of 0.05 for aflatoxins, although we did not first put in place our internal organization, laboratories and control system, so that we could see it through," Knežević told B92 in Belgrade on Monday.

The minister once again stressed that milk sold in Serbian stores was safe, and added that the state "reacted in a timely manner":

"As soon as we saw that there was a problem in the neighboring countries, we took 300 samples. When samples showed up returning different results, it became obvious that there was a possibility that something was contaminated. We quickly withdrew (some milk products from stores) and sent the samples to Holland."

Asked why the authorities failed to inform the citizens at that point, Knežević said the state was "informing, but not creating panic".

The minister added he "could not wait to go to the police and say everything he knew", but that he also "could not wait for Goran Ješić to do the same".

Ješić, an official of the Vojvodina provincial government and of the opposition DS party, last week revealed on Twitter the results of some milk tests that showed increased aflatoxin contamination.

"Let him also repeat his statement that someone had offered him money to keep quiet, which would be a serious crime. 20 minutes after he made the statement, he said it was made in the heat of the moment. And then you consider him to be in the right, after behaving like that," Knežević told B92.