Croat president: Serbia, Croatia should harmonize interests

On the 20th anniversary of Croatia's independence Croat President Ivo Josipovic said that relations between Croatia and Serbia needed to be built much faster. He stressed that the current generation of politicians needed to find a way to harmonize the two countries’ interests. Croat president: Serbia, Croatia should harmonize interests “Different interests are a normal thing. We have to find a way to harmonize them, to accept different interests of our neighbors,” Josipovic told daily Vecernje novosti. He said that joint problems that Serbia and Croatia would have to solve would remain after Croatia joined the EU. “Cooperation in finding the missing people needs to be strengthened, we can find a way to finally determine a border on Danube because there are many joint economic projects precisely in the Danube region,” the Croat president was quoted as saying. He stressed he supported the return of Serb refugees to Croatia, adding that there were no political obstacles to that goal anymore. “Of course, there is the issue of refugees, allowing everybody who wants to return to Croatia to do so. There are no more political obstacles there,” Josipovic pointed out and added that the main problem that prevented faster return of refugees was economic one. When asked about Serbia and Croatia’s lawsuits against one another before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), he said that the Croatian government would decide on withdrawal of the lawsuit but that he had said several times that the lawsuit’s purposefulness needed to be discussed. The Croat president repeated that Croatia’s interest was for all countries of the region to become EU members and stressed that his country would support all of its neighbors on their path toward the EU. Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic

Croat president: Serbia, Croatia should harmonize interests

“Different interests are a normal thing. We have to find a way to harmonize them, to accept different interests of our neighbors,” Josipović told daily Večernje novosti.

He said that joint problems that Serbia and Croatia would have to solve would remain after Croatia joined the EU.

“Cooperation in finding the missing people needs to be strengthened, we can find a way to finally determine a border on Danube because there are many joint economic projects precisely in the Danube region,” the Croat president was quoted as saying.

He stressed he supported the return of Serb refugees to Croatia, adding that there were no political obstacles to that goal anymore.

“Of course, there is the issue of refugees, allowing everybody who wants to return to Croatia to do so. There are no more political obstacles there,” Josipović pointed out and added that the main problem that prevented faster return of refugees was economic one.

When asked about Serbia and Croatia’s lawsuits against one another before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), he said that the Croatian government would decide on withdrawal of the lawsuit but that he had said several times that the lawsuit’s purposefulness needed to be discussed.

The Croat president repeated that Croatia’s interest was for all countries of the region to become EU members and stressed that his country would support all of its neighbors on their path toward the EU.