Former Prime Minister Kostunica Says Serbia Still Too Weak for EU

Text of report in English by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based Radio B92 website, on 7 October

Novi Sad, 7 October: Serbia needs to beef up before it joins the EU, and not delude itself by thinking that this will begin the moment it becomes a member, says [former Serbian Prime Minister] Vojislav Kostunica.

“You first have to have your own strengths when you enter the EU, while at the same time, you have to know who you are and what it is that you are entering,” the former prime minister told [Novi Sad- based] Vojvodina TV.

According to him, European integration will undoubtedly be affected by the Kosovo question and Serbia’s stance on Kosovo independence. “We have stood our ground, we have not gone to war, we have not brought the misery of sanctions on to Serbia, and we have kept recognition of Kosovo recognition down to a small number of countries, and through a certain legal procedure, we are fighting for Kosovo to remain part of Serbia,” said the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader. He stated that those most guilty for the small number of citizens that had returned to Kosovo were the international military and civil forces in the province since 1999.

“The responsibility lies with all of them, given the endless funds pumped into Kosovo and its failed economy. The greatest responsibility lies on those who have failed to guarantee the safety of the Serbs, and who have failed to enable the majority of those who left Kosovo to return,” said Kostunica.

The DSS leader said that all unsolved crimes in Kosovo, as well as the attempts at ethnic cleansing on 17 March 2004, were the responsibility of the international community. “The whole business about Kosovo has nothing to do with the Kosovo Albanians and their interests, but above all the interests of the US to rectify the mistake they made after WWII, which was to be militarily present in Southeastern Europe and in the Balkans,” he surmised. According to Kostunica, the US wanted to ensure its presence through a “quasi- state”, whose population and institutions, they had assessed, would look on their presence, through NATO, kindly overall.

Originally published by Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0836 7 Oct 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring European. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.