Pupovac: Serbs in Croatia Are Between a Rock and a Hard Place of Serbo-Croatian Non-Reconciliation

Milorad Pupovac (BETAPHOTO/HINA/Mladen VOLARIC)

Milorad Pupovac, the political leader of Serbs in Croatia and president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, told BETA on Aug. 17 that Serbs in Croatia were between a rock and a hard place of Croatian-Serbian non-reconciliation, but that they were headed down a path that he believed would take the Serbs away from both the rock and the hard place.

"It would be much easier if we were not between a rock and a hard place of Croatian-Serbian non-reconciliation. But we are headed down a road we believe will take us away from that rock and that hard place," said Pupovac.

When asked how he would rate the current relationship between the authorities in Belgrade and Zagreb, Pupovac replied that the political relations between Zagreb and Belgrade began to stagnate back in 2011 or 2012.

"Despite occasional attempts at stopping that stagnation, their results were short-lived. And they were almost always overshadowed by the open wartime and post-war issues. A particular problem is the standstill in the European Union enlargement process and the neglecting of relations between the countries of the former Yugoslavia and South East Europe by the EU," said the political leader of Serbs in Croatia.