FM Dacic irked by EU's "philosophical" approach to Croatia

FM Dacic irked by EU's "philosophical" approach to Croatia

"There's hardly any country that would have remained silent in the face of what has been happening during the past months," Dacic said, and added:

"We are talking about actions of official state organs of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and there is no state that would not have reacted to attacks on its prime minister coming from other states. Imagine somebody attacking Merkel, Putin, or Biden."

The foreign minister and Vucic's first deputy then listed the events and incidents to which Serbia has reacted: the attempt to rehabilitate the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) - a Nazi-allied entity ruled by the Ustasha regime that existed during the Second World War - the unveiling of a monument to Ustasha terrorist Miro Baresic, the attack targeting Vucic last year in Srebrenica and the dropping of an investigation related to that incident, Serbian officials being declared unwelcome (in Srebrenica), and disparaging statements made by former Croatian PM Zoran Milanovic.

"When somebody describes some state as a handful of miserable (people), you cannot but react. What did Serbia do wrong - we want the EU to react, but they talk philosophically, as if they were on Tibet, they say the escalation of rhetoric is not good. It's not like Croatian and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) officials were writing literary essays, so we can talk about rhetoric. This is about concrete moves, and the state is under obligation to react," said Dacic, and continued:

"Croatia is criticizing our law on war crimes, and yet look at article 16 of their Criminal Code that allows them to prosecute all (suspects) from around the world."

Dacic also said that the diplomats who gathered yesterday "welcomed" Belgrade's decision to in future refrain from reacting.

"But that's not enough. It is necessary to prevent the actions to which we are reacting," the minister added, stressing that the EU "must react" considering that one of its member states, i.e., Croatia, was jeopardizing "certain values."

"We are a serious state and we care about peace and stability in the region, but we are worried because an anti-Serb policy is being conducted. We will be silent, and I will keep silent - but that will continue. The situation in the region is worrying, but just as someone starts a war, we have started peace, and we'll fall silent," said the minister.