Dacic: Road to EU along with fostering relations with Russia

JAGODINA - Prime Minister of the outgoing Serbian government Ivica Dacic has said that Serbia’s national and state priorities are its road to the EU together with fostering good relations with traditional friends at the same time, adding that the position to be taken on the Ukraine crisis will have to include both these two assumptions.

“We want to continue our journey towards the EU and this means that Serbia's has certain obligations in terms of complying with and joining positions taken by the EU when it comes to common foreign policy, but on the other hand, it means that Serbia surely cannot threaten its national and state interests, but rather has to continue fostering friendly relations with Russia, which supports Serbia in the UN regarding Kosovo-Metohija,” Dacic told reporters in the city of Jagodina, central Serbia, on Saturday.

He said that “the declaration and recognition Kosovo independence has opened a Pandora ’s Box and the question is if it will ever be closed at all.”

“I think that the comparisons related to the Crimea and Kosovo issues, in terms of justifying Kosovo’s independence, are wrong and they stem from justifying the unjust policy pursued by the international community regarding Serbia,” Dacic said at the opening in Jagodina of a factory for the production of automobile seats and technical textiles for the automotive industry by Italy’s company Aunde.

Noting that Serbia is not a member of the EU, but rather a country whose process of joining the Union is underway, he said that it is under “no obligation” to accept the position taken by the EU states, but rather that there is a need to find a common ground regarding the policy.

Dacic said that the issue will be...