"Serbia, Croatia to lead region to EU"

Vuk Jeremic has told a meeting of foreign ministers from the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative that Serbia and Croatia must lead the region towards EU integration. “I believe Serbia and Croatia have a clear responsibility to jointly lead the region towards its European future. However, it hasn’t always been like that. You remember Vukovar and the tragic events that took place there. You remember the ethnic cleansing of over 250,000 Serbs during Operation Storm in 1995,” recalled the foreign minister. "Serbia, Croatia to lead region to EU" Jeremic added that those were “dark times that must never happen again.“ “In this century, however, we have consciously chosen to turn a new page. Not forgetting the failures of the past, we have chosen to concentrate on building a future where our two countries, together with the other states of the Western Balkans, can move closer to the EU,“ he said. The minister said that courage and vision had been necessary for something like that, and the results so far had been very heartening, as bilateral relations had improved considerably in recent years. “Then, however, Croatia decided to recognize Kosovo’s unilateral, illegal and illegitimate independence declaration, which is a clear breach of the UN Charter, Security Council Resolution 1244, and the Helsinki Final Act,“ he lamented, adding that, as a result, “regional security has been brought into question.“ One way of surmounting the current crisis, Jeremic said, was a return to the principles of compromise, concessions and consensus, and for states to adhere to the standards of the international system enshrined within the UN Charter. The minister said that Serbia was determined to reach a historical compromise with the Kosovo Albanians that would consolidate democratic values and propel the whole region towards the EU. He also stressed the importance of cooperation within the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative in numerous fields such as traffic, tourism, culture, education, ecology, as well as the battle against suspicious forest fires, organized crime and the gray economy. Jeremic hailed the establishment of the Initiative’s Permanent Secretariat and the UniAdrion mechanism for inter-university cooperation. Vuk Jeremic (FoNet, archive)

"Serbia, Croatia to lead region to EU"

Jeremić added that those were “dark times that must never happen again.“

“In this century, however, we have consciously chosen to turn a new page. Not forgetting the failures of the past, we have chosen to concentrate on building a future where our two countries, together with the other states of the Western Balkans, can move closer to the EU,“ he said.

The minister said that courage and vision had been necessary for something like that, and the results so far had been very heartening, as bilateral relations had improved considerably in recent years.

“Then, however, Croatia decided to recognize Kosovo’s unilateral, illegal and illegitimate independence declaration, which is a clear breach of the UN Charter, Security Council Resolution 1244, and the Helsinki Final Act,“ he lamented, adding that, as a result, “regional security has been brought into question.“

One way of surmounting the current crisis, Jeremić said, was a return to the principles of compromise, concessions and consensus, and for states to adhere to the standards of the international system enshrined within the UN Charter.

The minister said that Serbia was determined to reach a historical compromise with the Kosovo Albanians that would consolidate democratic values and propel the whole region towards the EU.

He also stressed the importance of cooperation within the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative in numerous fields such as traffic, tourism, culture, education, ecology, as well as the battle against suspicious forest fires, organized crime and the gray economy.

Jeremić hailed the establishment of the Initiative’s Permanent Secretariat and the UniAdrion mechanism for inter-university cooperation.