AKI (Italy), December 12, 2011
Serbia: Tadic 'won't ever recognize Kosovo' after EU delay
Belgrade, 12 Dec. (AKI) - Serbia's mood was sober after European Council postponed a decision on its candidacy for European Union membership, but pro-European president Boris Tadic said he will persist on his political strategy that membership in the EU had no alternative.
“That policy has no alternative and I’m convinced that we will get the status of a candidate some other time,” Tadic said. “We have to march forward even in the midst of a grave economic crisis and the problems inherited from the past,” he added.
Germany and Austria on Friday blocked Serbia’s candidacy in the European Council, saying Belgrade hasn’t done enough in normalizing relations with Kosovo - where majority Albanians declared independence in 2008 - in removing barricades in northern Kosovo set up by local Serbs and dismantling “parallel institutions” Belgrade still operates in the north.
The decision, postponed until March, didn't keep Tadic from flattly refusing to ever recognize Kosovo's independence.
Tadic for the first time vowed Belgrade would never recognize Kosovo despite the fact that Kosovo has been recognized by over 80 countries, including the United States and 22 out of 27 EU members.
Political analysts said it wasn’t clear how Tadic expected a positive decision in March unless he changed his position. Meanwhile, deputy prime minister in charge of European integrations, Bozidar Djelic, has resigned, saying Belgrade’s chances were very poor unless it succumbed to Western pressure.
The EU decision came as a cold shower to Tadic’s pro-European policies ahead of parliamentary elections planned for May. Four opposition parties have called for the government’s immediate resignation and early elections, but Tadic said his government has a stable majority and a lot could still be done before May.
“Serbia can look the EU into eyes today, because we fulfilled all that was asked from us,” Tadic said. “I could ask my European colleagues whether they kept their promise, but I won’t talk about it in public,” he added.
Former prime minister and leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, said Tadic’s pro-European policy has ended in a disaster. Belgrade should reject EU policy of “blackmail” and chart a new course, he said.
"People should decide in elections whether Serbia should have a new policy and a new state goal,” Kostunica concluded
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