"Kosovo recognition not condition for EU entry"

European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Serbia Jelko Kacin says no-one's setting Belgrade recognition of Kosovo independence as a condition for EU entry. “Individuals in Serbia are thinking that up as a condition. Serbia, instead of tackling the challenges it faces on its road to Europe, is concerned with Kosovo and Kacin and talk of the EP, in an attempt to escape from reality and do something for itself,” Kacin told Novi Sad daily Dnevnik. "Kosovo recognition not condition for EU entry" According to the EP rapporteur, Serbia has a responsibility, not only to itself and to its EU future, but to the future of the whole region. “When Serbia, with all its capacities, acts for the whole region as a kind of lighthouse, everything goes well, but when Serbia shuts its windows, that darkness has a negative bearing on all its immediate and indirect neighbors in the region,” he reflected. Kacin added that Slovenia had once attempted to lead the whole of the then Yugoslavia into the EU, but that there had not been sufficient wisdom in Serbia at the time. “Had Kosovo been recognized as the seventh republic of the SFRJ, Yugoslavia wouldn’t have been a federation, but would have survived as a confederation and would definitely already have been an EU member, would have its own commissioner and 35 MEPs; Slovenian wouldn’t be an official language of the EU, rather Serbo-Croat, and Kosovo would have received the greatest possible help from the EU. As it is, only Slovenia is in the EU,” lamented the EP rapporteur. Yesterday, Tanjug news agency carried Kacin's comment that "Serbia can enter the European Union" even if it does not recognize the Kosovo Albanians' secession, "but the question is when". "In the end, when all the countries of South East Europe gain the membership, Serbia can wait for Kosovo to do all that is needed and meet the conditions, and then, at the same time with Kosovo, join the European Union," he told Tuesday's issue of Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti. Kacin, who represents the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, said that he is "only interested whether Serbia would remove the caretaker government from office and get a new one, whether it would confirm the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), and continue the cooperation with the Tribunal in The Hague". "Whenever Serbia is faced with some difficulties on its road towards the European integration, it pulls out the Kosovo card," he opined. When reminded that Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic, DS, recently announced that he will request the dismissal of the EP rapporteur "who is openly backing separatists in Kosovo", Kacin said that he is "not convinced that the caretaker government in Serbia and Deputy Prime Minister Djelic are Europe-oriented". Unconvincing Europe-orientation: Jelko Kacin, Bozidar Djelic (FoNet, archive)

"Kosovo recognition not condition for EU entry"

According to the EP rapporteur, Serbia has a responsibility, not only to itself and to its EU future, but to the future of the whole region.

“When Serbia, with all its capacities, acts for the whole region as a kind of lighthouse, everything goes well, but when Serbia shuts its windows, that darkness has a negative bearing on all its immediate and indirect neighbors in the region,” he reflected.

Kacin added that Slovenia had once attempted to lead the whole of the then Yugoslavia into the EU, but that there had not been sufficient wisdom in Serbia at the time.

“Had Kosovo been recognized as the seventh republic of the SFRJ, Yugoslavia wouldn’t have been a federation, but would have survived as a confederation and would definitely already have been an EU member, would have its own commissioner and 35 MEPs; Slovenian wouldn’t be an official language of the EU, rather Serbo-Croat, and Kosovo would have received the greatest possible help from the EU. As it is, only Slovenia is in the EU,” lamented the EP rapporteur.

Yesterday, Tanjug news agency carried Kacin's comment that "Serbia can enter the European Union" even if it does not recognize the Kosovo Albanians' secession, "but the question is when".

"In the end, when all the countries of South East Europe gain the membership, Serbia can wait for Kosovo to do all that is needed and meet the conditions, and then, at the same time with Kosovo, join the European Union," he told Tuesday's issue of Belgrade daily Večernje Novosti.

Kacin, who represents the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, said that he is "only interested whether Serbia would remove the caretaker government from office and get a new one, whether it would confirm the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), and continue the cooperation with the Tribunal in The Hague".

"Whenever Serbia is faced with some difficulties on its road towards the European integration, it pulls out the Kosovo card," he opined.

When reminded that Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić, DS, recently announced that he will request the dismissal of the EP rapporteur "who is openly backing separatists in Kosovo", Kacin said that he is "not convinced that the caretaker government in Serbia and Deputy Prime Minister Đelić are Europe-oriented".