Ivica Dacic (Photo: PrintScreen instagram/mupsrbije)
Serbia’s Minister of Interior Affairs Ivica Dacic said on Oct. 16 that anyone in Serbia is allowed to express their political opinion and that public gatherings are not an issue, but that there are rules governing both.
Speaking for the latest edition of the Vecernje Novosti daily, Dacic opined that the question of mining local lithium has been politicized and is being abused for political purposes rather than debated in a proper manner.
Asked whether the Jadar lithium mining project and the purchase of French Dassault Rafale fighter jets are clear indications of Serbia drawing closer to the West, Dacic expressed his belief that neither move leans the country in one direction. “Perhaps it is more a matter of correcting the past, when the balance was skewed in the other direction because we didn’t have strategic agreements with certain other countries,” the minister said.
According to him, Serbia’s strategic goal is to join the European Union and it is not possible to have two strategic orientations, i.e. “to simultaneously be in favor of BRICS and the EU.” “Cooperation with BRICS is important, however, and it is something we should participate in. At what level and how exactly is up to those who lead [Serbia’s] foreign policy,” Dacic concluded.
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