Vucic Complains about Serbian President to NGO Officials (Blic, VIP)
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic is creating serious problems for the Serbian Government with his platform for Kosovo, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told representatives of nongovernmental organizations, adding that he learned about the content of the document from the media, Blic reports on Monday.
“Nikolic is creating serious problems for me with the platform, and I learned from the media about what is written in it,” said Vucic to NGO representatives at meetings last week. The Prime Minister complained that Nikolic wrote the platform without any consultations with him. Vucic said that the Government is also in an unpleasant position, because if it accepts the document it will be blamed by the West, and if it rejects it, it would look like it is against Kosovo in Serbia.
If the Government and Parliament were to ask the EU and UN to urgently start negotiation on “the final status of Kosovo”, as imagined by Nikolic, on the basis put forth by the platform, that would jeopardize the implementation of the Brussels Agreement and block Serbia’s path to the EU, and simply dismissing it would allow political opponents to accuse the Serbian Progressive Party of giving up Kosovo for the EU, Blic reported Vucic’s talk with NGOs.
The newspaper reported that precisely such moves on Nikolic’s part are one of the reasons that led the PM to organize meetings with pro-European NGOs, because he needs allies also in this part of society for bringing Serbia into the EU.
Blic reported that Vucic received the platform during the weekend and that his official reaction is now being awaited.