Opposition Leader: Serbia Needs Strategic Political Agreement with EU and U.S.

Nebojsa Zelenovic (BetaPhoto/Milan Obradovic)

Nebojsa Zelenovic, the head of the Together for Serbia party, said on Nov. 15 that Serbia needs a political agreement with the European Union and United States in order to resolve its security issues and move on from its colonial economic model.

"Serbia cannot overcome its poor living conditions and the strategically [detrimental] drain of hundreds of thousands of capable people without a well-framed agreement with the West. We will, of course, cooperate with anyone when it is [in our] economic interest to do so," Zelenovic told the Politika daily.

While Serbia does export goods and services to the EU and, conversely, receive investments and non-returnable funding from the Union, Zelenovic maintains that the country nevertheless needs a strategic political arrangement with the EU.

In his opinion, it is in the interest of every Serbian citizen that the issue of Kosovo and Metohija be resolved as soon as possible, because the crisis has been causing Serbia strife for 40 years while the country's ability to protect its own interests continues to drop.

"Without a political consensus, Serbia cannot achieve a solution that will open the possibility of normal life in Serbia in this century. I will speak of my exact ideas once I gain insight into the current state of the negotiations," Zelenovic said, adding that he has many times stated his readiness to get involved in resolving the question of Kosovo and Metohija.