"Serbia-Croatia relations to enter deep freeze stage"

"Serbia-Croatia relations to enter deep freeze stage"

"To use the most polite diplomatic vocabulary, what will follow is a deep freeze in relations with Serbia for an indefinite period of time, which means that Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic's visit to Serbia is ruled out, although there is an invitation from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Also, meetings between senior officials from Croatia and Serbia should not be expected for a while," an unnamed senior Croatian official told the newspaper.

Although they are angry at the comparison with the Nazi regime, Croatia's political circles think the president of Serbia scored an own goal with such a radical approach, the article continued. "Because to compare an EU member to the Third Reich is a statement that cannot be supported by any serious state, while Vucic has long been trying to show that Serbia is a factor of stability in the region."

Instead, he turned out to be a populists, whose statements deteriorate the situation, instead of contributing to improving relations, the newspaper said.

"The Serbian leadership was terribly upset by the presence of Israel and the United States at the marking of (Operation) Storm, because the authorities in Belgrade have been convincing the public there for a long time that Serbia has an increasing number of allies. Then they saw Israeli pilots above Knin, and it's clear to everyone that this is not true, instead, Croatia is in a much better position. In addition, Vucic has a major internal problem, which is the recognition of Kosovo, and he is buying off the Serbian public with such nationalist statements. And as long as he does, there can be no talk of normalizing relations between Serbia and Croatia, which includes political meetings at the highest levels," said the interlocutor of Jutarnji List.