Serbians need to be part of EU, first deputy PM says

BELGRADE Serbian First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic believes that Serbia has managed to realize its mistakes and change its stance on Europe after 20 years. In a text published in daily Danas, he said that it represented a beginning of a more successful, modern and powerful Serbia that would be able to be a leader in the region in a few years. Serbians need to be part of EU, first deputy PM says Vucic pointed out that Serbians had not understood the EU's political importance but that they had realized their mistakes, adding that Serbia could and had to fit in Europe’s system and be a reliable partner. He noted that Serbian citizens “lived in the past” and “expected to secure borders we wanted, have wages like those who worked twice as much with idleness, support from Mars or some other planet”. “We hit the ground and this freefall was painful individually for everybody of us but for the entire people and the state as well. The only good thing in all that is that we, after 20 years, managed to realize, accept and admit our own mistakes while we were pragmatically and realistically trying to repair the consequences of all the damaging things we left behind,” Vucic stressed. He noted that Europe was not an easy subject for Serbians because “Europe has done wrong by the Serbian people and the state countless of times and often used double standards for the crisis in the former Yugoslavia and it gives unambiguous support to the project of independent Kosovo”. The first deputy PM stressed that we needed to be realistic in our wishes and requests and to work hard on winning support for our stances. He is convinced that a change in Serbia’s attitude toward Europe and the West, as well as toward Russia, “that we will respect and love but not idealize”, represents a beginning of the forming of a more successful, more modern and more powerful Serbia that will soon be a leader in the region. Vucic stressed that Serbia could and wanted to be a reliable partner to everybody in the region and in Europe and that it would fulfill its obligations no matter how hard they were. He added that despite the financial and political crisis in the EU, it still “attracts all those who fantasize about organized systems, economic progress, who share joint values of democracy and human rights”. The deputy prime minister said that Serbia should join the EU not “for Europe’s sake but for the sake of our and Serbia’s future”. “We do not even have to love them, which certainly won’t be hard for us to do, but we can and need to respect their laws, rules, organization, rights, obligations and all those things that come from it – a successful and prosperous economy,” Vucic explained. He noted that Serbia would do its best to make up for the lost time once it received a date for the start of the EU accession talks. Vucic stressed that Serbia had “wonderful and educated young people whom it has to use to attract more investors and create an atmosphere so everybody would want to come to Serbia”. “We as people and the state are known for not giving up easily. Even though we are lagging behind in the European race and it seemed like we were going to give up and leave the race, we are here, we have not been disqualified and we are closing in on the leading group. With the same power and will, I am convinced that Serbia’s children in the future will live the same, according to the same or similar rules as those ahead of us live today,” he concluded. Aleksandar Vucic (Beta, file) Tanjug

Serbians need to be part of EU, first deputy PM says

Vučić pointed out that Serbians had not understood the EU's political importance but that they had realized their mistakes, adding that Serbia could and had to fit in Europe’s system and be a reliable partner.

He noted that Serbian citizens “lived in the past” and “expected to secure borders we wanted, have wages like those who worked twice as much with idleness, support from Mars or some other planet”.

“We hit the ground and this freefall was painful individually for everybody of us but for the entire people and the state as well. The only good thing in all that is that we, after 20 years, managed to realize, accept and admit our own mistakes while we were pragmatically and realistically trying to repair the consequences of all the damaging things we left behind,” Vučić stressed.

He noted that Europe was not an easy subject for Serbians because “Europe has done wrong by the Serbian people and the state countless of times and often used double standards for the crisis in the former Yugoslavia and it gives unambiguous support to the project of independent Kosovo”.

The first deputy PM stressed that we needed to be realistic in our wishes and requests and to work hard on winning support for our stances.

He is convinced that a change in Serbia’s attitude toward Europe and the West, as well as toward Russia, “that we will respect and love but not idealize”, represents a beginning of the forming of a more successful, more modern and more powerful Serbia that will soon be a leader in the region.

Vučić stressed that Serbia could and wanted to be a reliable partner to everybody in the region and in Europe and that it would fulfill its obligations no matter how hard they were.

He added that despite the financial and political crisis in the EU, it still “attracts all those who fantasize about organized systems, economic progress, who share joint values of democracy and human rights”.

The deputy prime minister said that Serbia should join the EU not “for Europe’s sake but for the sake of our and Serbia’s future”.

“We do not even have to love them, which certainly won’t be hard for us to do, but we can and need to respect their laws, rules, organization, rights, obligations and all those things that come from it – a successful and prosperous economy,” Vučić explained.

He noted that Serbia would do its best to make up for the lost time once it received a date for the start of the EU accession talks.

Vučić stressed that Serbia had “wonderful and educated young people whom it has to use to attract more investors and create an atmosphere so everybody would want to come to Serbia”.

“We as people and the state are known for not giving up easily. Even though we are lagging behind in the European race and it seemed like we were going to give up and leave the race, we are here, we have not been disqualified and we are closing in on the leading group. With the same power and will, I am convinced that Serbia’s children in the future will live the same, according to the same or similar rules as those ahead of us live today,” he concluded.