Djuric: Brussels Makes Decisions on Foreign, Security Policy

Marko Djuric Moscow(BETAPHOTO/MSP)

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on May 7 that decisions about Europe's foreign and security policy -- decisions that affected Serbia too, were made in Brussels, which is why it was important for Serbia to be part of the decision-making process.

Djuric told Happy TV that 64 percent of Serbia's trade was with European Union member countries, and that this must be considered because Serbian roads, schools and hospitals depended on it to a great extent. "We are a country on the path to EU membership. Like it or not, decisions are made at that table in Brussels about our foreign and security policy too. And when I say our, I mean the entire region, I mean the continent of Europe. Serbia is of course independent and makes independent decisions, but the impact of the decisions made in Brussels affects us too," he said.

He stressed that this was why it was important "to have as great an influence as possible on the decisions made there and to win allies over to understanding Serbia's position." Djuric also said that a vote on admitting Kosovo into the Council of Europe was less than ten days away, but stressed that it would not pass, because Serbia "has managed to secure the support of some key European actors."

"Pristina has not met any of the conditions. It has not reinstated Serbs to the ownership of land taken from them and it has not formed the Community of Serb Municipalities. On the topic of the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is to attend, Djuric said he felt "fulfilled by the fact that the Serbs are a people who celebrates" Victory Day over fascism.