Dacic: It's indisputable that SNS and SPS will form Serbia's new government

Photo: Nikola Tomic

The leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, says it is indisputable that the Serbian Progressive Part (SNS) and his SPS will form Serbia's next government.

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Last evening, Dacic told a TV Pink talk show that SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic and he once again confirmed their readiness for strategic political cooperation.

According to Dacic, he and Vucic are satisfied with what they have achieved together in many areas, since 2012.

"We believe it is in Serbia's interest to continue this going forward," said Dacic.

He added that meetings of top party bodies should be held this week, where their agreement on strategic partnership reached on Sunday will be confirmed.

"But it is indisputable that we will form the new Government of Serbia together. We discussed all aspects of politics, individual topics, it was a successful meeting, especially when the young forces joined in," said Dacic.

Speaking about the EU asking that Serbia aligns its its visa policy with the bloc because of the increased number of migrants, the leader of the Socialists wondered why the EU allows these migrants to enter its member states (before reaching Serbia), and where that is happening.

Dacic stressed that he is in favor of these people being able to enter Serbia without visas and added that the EU wants to punish Serbia because the bloc does not know how to do its part of the job.

He commented ironically that Burundi or Tunisia, which have a visa-free regime with Serbia, will now be seen as endangering EU's security.

"There should be discussions around that topic, but this is hypocritical. We should ask the question of who is responsible for the thousands of migrants who come to Serbia from the EU, via Bulgaria and Greece. And then they (EU) say, they can come to you, but no further," stressed Dacic and added that no country has adopted a more humane approach towards migrants than Serbia.

Speaking about harmonizing Serbia's foreign policy with the EU, Dacic also noted that EU members have increased trade with Russia and asked what kind of sanctions those are.

"I have no doubt that we all want to be part of the EU, but when they used to go from London to Brussels, they always said, 'we are going to defend the interests of Great Britain'. And we are going to defend the interests of Serbia," stressed Dacic.

Commenting on the European Commission's report on Serbia's progress, Dacic said that in the last 20 years we have had different reports and recalled that before Karadzic and Mladic got arrested, that was the key issue, and as soon as they were arrested, Kosovo became that, two days later.

"Whether we will impose sanctions against Russia is not a question for the EU, but for us, and our answer should be in line with our interest. If that's in our interest, then let's do that," said Dacic.

He added that this topic is artificial for Serbia and stressed that it's not about Russia, Ukraine, Germany... but about the issue of territorial integrity.

"This is not only a question of the stance toward Russia, but an internal political question of territorial integrity. Serbia has not changed its position by an iota in the past 30 years, but look at how others have been voting during that period," he said.

Dacic added that it is in our interest to "continue our path towards the EU as much as we can" and pointed out that the country's foreign policy will be aligned with the bloc the moment Serbia becomes a member.

"Albania has 100 percent alignment and cannot open (EU membership) negotiations. Do we want to say that Kosovo should join the UN? Do we not need to ask for help from Russia, China, Indonesia? If that is not necessary, we will impose sanctions against all of them," said the leader of the Socialists.

(Telegraf.rs)