“We will only join EU with Kosovo”

BELGRADE Kosovo is just one of the issues on the EU pathway but it is not more difficult than combat against corruption or the badly implemented judicial reform. This is according to Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo Director Aleksandar Vulin. “We will only join EU with Kosovo” He says that a platform for the southern Serbian province will be presented to the public soon. “It is not fair to shift the burden of the EU integration to Kosovo Serbs, to make them some sort of a burden for Serbia and people who stand in the way of our future and progress. We will either join the EU together or we will not join it at all,” Vulin told Tanjug. He believes that the fact that Kosovo is often mentioned as an obstacle on Serbia’s EU pathway is not fair. According to him, the main proposals and ideas for the Kosovo platform will stem from Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic’s speech at the UN General Assembly and his talks with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. He pointed out that top state officials would work on the platform but that Kosovo Serbs and various institutions would give their suggestions. Vulin noted that Serbia was ready for the continuation of the dialogue with Pristina but that the negotiations were not simple and that their beginning did not only depend on Serbia. Nikolic said in New York that the final result of the upcoming dialogue could not be implicit acceptance of the situation in the field and rejected a possibility that an agreement on good neighborly relations with Kosovo could be a starting point for the talks. “Mrs. Ashton knows that I am not an interlocutor for talks on good relations with Kosovo as a state. She has an interlocutor in me for a good life in Kosovo, for peace and security, for investments but not for being good neighbors one day and I think that the Serbian citizens know that very well and that they elected me because of it,” he told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) at the time. Vulin added that Serbia would not be free until those who robbed it were free and noted that he believed that the current government would tackle corruption and crime. Aleksandar Vulin (Beta, file) Tanjug

“We will only join EU with Kosovo”

He says that a platform for the southern Serbian province will be presented to the public soon.

“It is not fair to shift the burden of the EU integration to Kosovo Serbs, to make them some sort of a burden for Serbia and people who stand in the way of our future and progress. We will either join the EU together or we will not join it at all,” Vulin told Tanjug.

He believes that the fact that Kosovo is often mentioned as an obstacle on Serbia’s EU pathway is not fair.

According to him, the main proposals and ideas for the Kosovo platform will stem from Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić’s speech at the UN General Assembly and his talks with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.

He pointed out that top state officials would work on the platform but that Kosovo Serbs and various institutions would give their suggestions.

Vulin noted that Serbia was ready for the continuation of the dialogue with Priština but that the negotiations were not simple and that their beginning did not only depend on Serbia.

Nikolić said in New York that the final result of the upcoming dialogue could not be implicit acceptance of the situation in the field and rejected a possibility that an agreement on good neighborly relations with Kosovo could be a starting point for the talks.

“Mrs. Ashton knows that I am not an interlocutor for talks on good relations with Kosovo as a state. She has an interlocutor in me for a good life in Kosovo, for peace and security, for investments but not for being good neighbors one day and I think that the Serbian citizens know that very well and that they elected me because of it,” he told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) at the time.

Vulin added that Serbia would not be free until those who robbed it were free and noted that he believed that the current government would tackle corruption and crime.