Serbia may stop EU bıd

BELGRADE – Agence France-Presse

Serbia will abandon its goal of joining the EU if Brussels insists Belgrade recognizes Kosovo’s independence, President Tomislav Nikolic told a local newspaper yesterday.

“If they officially impose the condition to choose between the EU and Kosovo, we will abandon our European path,” Nikolic said in an interview with Vecernje Novosti.

“EU is keeping us at a distance solely over Kosovo. They can keep us at a distance for another 100 years but that will not change our position,” he added, repeating Serbia’s official stance that Kosovo is still part of Serbia despite its 2008 declaration of independence.

Nikolic said that if Belgrade got new conditions for EU entry “that were not applied to other [candidate] countries” it would drive Belgrade further from the bloc. “In that case it would be preferable if they told us: ‘We do not want you’,” he said.

During a visit to Belgrade last week EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle said Brussels should open accession talks with Serbia.