Jeremic on Vucic, Kosovo, change of borders (Danas, Der Standard)
Leader of Peoples’ Party Vuk Jeremic in an interview to Vienna-based Der Standard said that Serbia is no longer a democratic state but “a corrupted autocracy” in which the President of the Republic grabbed all leverages of power, while he secretly negotiates on redrawing the borders in the region, Danas daily reports.
“Regional stability and good relations between peoples cannot be established by mongering rhetoric that divides people. It is not bad when people on crucial positions are good friends, such as Aleksandar Vucic, Hashim Thaci and Edi Rama, but if everybody else is arguing, then the situation would get out of control, sooner or later,” Jeremic said.
According to him, the similar situation happened at the beginning of nineties, when Milosevic and Tudjman had close private connection and negotiated about the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina behind the closed doors, which ended in a complete disaster.
Asked whether Vucic and Thaci would reach an agreement that would include an exchange of territories this year, Jeremic responded the probability for that to happen is 50:50, since there is a strong opposition against that idea, both among the Serbs and the Albanians.
“Majority of citizens in Serbia are against such solution, same as the Serbian Orthodox Church,” Jeremic said, adding he would wish if the European public would turn towards long-term perspectives rather than hasty solutions.
Asked why the EU and USA are neglecting democratic principles in the Balkans, Jeremic responded that an important change occurred in the European bureaucracy.
“The outgoing administration in the lack of tangible foreign policy achievements, wanted to declare a swift diplomatic victory in the Balkans. Many EU representatives know that the redrawing of borders is a recipe to revive instability in this region, however, since they do not intend to integrate the region in the near future, they are not overly disturbed over the risks it takes,” Jeremic concluded.