Belgrade: Vote ‘crucial’

Greek FM says Kosovo issue will only be resolved once Serbia joins EU

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic speaks at a conference organized by the Economist magazine in Athens, yesterday. Jeremic warned that many Serbs had turned against Europe after Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

VOULIAGMENI (AP) – Serbia’s upcoming parliamentary election is crucial for the country’s relationship with the rest of Europe, and voters angered by Kosovo’s declaration of independence could turn to politicians hostile to the EU, Serbia’s foreign minister said yesterday.

The results of the May 11 election “will be very close, and the discourse will be animated and polarizing,” Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said during a conference near Athens.

“For these are dramatic times in Serbia – times in which confusion abounds, populism is resurfacing and aspirations are being reformulated.” Parliamentary and local elections were called after Serbia’s coalition government collapsed over disagreements about how the country should respond to Kosovo’s declared independence.

Jeremic described the vote as being the most important since 2000, when former President Slobodan Milosevic was toppled in an uprising. He said it will “produce radical consequences for the coming development of my country and the Western Balkans.” The election’s main issue will be whether Serbia should grow closer to the rest of Europe, the foreign minister stressed.

“This election will be about choosing the future course of Serbia... Yes, I believe that the critical battle for the European soul of the Western Balkans is upon us, and that it will be fought at polling stations across my country,” he said.

Jeremic warned that many Serbs turned against the EU after some of its members recognized Kosovo as an independent country.

For the first time since Milosevic’s ouster, “the European idea in Serbia is on the defensive,” Jeremic said. “It is no longer seen as our destiny, but as a decision for us to make.”

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said the issue over Kosovo will only be resolved once Serbia joins the EU. “A true solution to Kosovo will only be seen when Serbia and the whole region are part of the EU,” Bakoyannis said during the conference that was also attended by her counterparts from Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as the prime minister of the Bosnian Serb Republic.

“Only then will we be able to say we’ve turned the corner,” she added.