Serbia wants to be reliable partner to Moscow, Kiev, Brussels and Washington — Serbian FM

World November 21, 2014, 18:02

Sanctions against Russia are the only foreign policy issue which Serbia has refused to coordinate with the European Union so far

BELGRADE, November 21 /TASS/. Serbia which is taking over the OSCE rotating chairmanship in 2015 has pledged to be a reliable partner to any center of political power - be it Moscow, Kiev, Brussels or Washington, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told a news conference on Friday.

“I hope that Serbia will not find itself in a situation when it will have to choose between Brussels and Moscow,” Dacic said adding that as an EU candidate Serbia has a commitment to coordinate its foreign and security policy with the European Union until the negotiations are over.

Sanctions against Russia are the only foreign policy issue which Serbia has refused to coordinate with the European Union so far.

“Today, it is too early for anybody to put such questions to Serbia,” Dacic said adding that the European Union had not even started foreign policy talks with Serbia as of yet.

He gave an example of neighboring Hungary which is suffering daily losses from the anti-Russian sanctions.

“We do not have whom to turn to. We do not want any experiments. We want good relations with everybody,” Dacic stressed noting that Serbia had not changed its stances either on Russia or the European Union.

Meanwhile, both Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday that Serbia would not impose sanctions on Russia despite its goal to join the European Union.

Serbia is not planning to impose sanctions on Russia at the moment, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic told journalists after meeting Johannes Hahn, the visiting EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Good-Neighbourly Relations.

Nikolic, however, admitted that the EU membership which Serbia was seeking implies an obligation to pursue a common foreign policy.

“What I heard from Hahn is the same what you have heard from him: Serbia is not an EU member and it can be independent in pursuing its foreign policy; but an EU membership would have implied a commitment to pursue a common foreign policy,” Nikolic told a news conference held jointly with Johannes Hahn.

“Today, in these hours and years, Serbia will definitely not impose sanctions on Russia,” Hahn emphasized.

Johannes Hahn said, in turn, that Serbia was free and that absolutely no pressure was being exerted on it to make its policy fully in line with the EU foreign policy. He added, however, that the European family was expecting Serbia to gradually bring its policy in line with the European one, including its foreign policy.

Earlier on Thursday, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia was not going to impose sanctions on Russia.

“The European Union is our strategic goal but we are not going to impose sanctions against Russia,” Vucic told journalists after meeting Johannes Hahn, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Good-Neighbourly Relations, in Belgrade on Thursday.

“I am going to tell you what I keep saying to everybody wherever I go: Moscow, Washington, Brussels, Belgrade or Kosovska Mitrovica. Everything I have said about Serbia’s policy, our path to the EU and our attitude to Russia I have also said to /Russian President/ Vladimir Putin and Mr. Hahn,” Vucic stressed adding that Serbia was pursuing a policy in the interests of its citizens.

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