Serbia's lack of desire to join NATO "not wrong"

Serbia's lack of desire to join NATO "not wrong"

Asked whether the recent signing of the IPAP agreement with NATO meant that Serbia had "entered the military alliance", he answered negatively and stressed that Serbia is militarily neutral.

"I believe that the agreement will be a good platform for improving and developing relations between NATO and Serbia in the coming years," said Alli, adding that NATO and Serbia have been cooperating for ten years and that both sides should "look to the future."

According to him, Serbia is a factor of stability in the Western Balkans and is "very important for its future prosperity."

"Security is a precondition of prosperity," noted Alli.

He then added that Europe is currently faced with internal and external challenges that come from the east and the south of the continent.

"The danger that comes from the east," said the NATO official, "is "the occupation of Ukraine but also radical Islamists."

"Some young people have poisonous ideas and the Western Balkans is not immune to this phenomenon, 15 to 20 people from Serbia have joined radical Islamists. This is a common problem in Europe and that is why we have to decide together how to fix it," said Alli.

Speaking about the crisis in Ukraine, he said that the big problem was that Russia "occupied the territory of a UN member state" and continued to support "separatists in the east of the country."

"This is the biggest threat since the Cold War, and we cannot allow a partition of Ukraine," said he.