Head of the Serbian Progressive Party Tomislav Nikolic has told Tanjug he believes Serbia will be granted EU candidate status on December 9, because the EU will consider the fact the country would be plunged into chaos if that did not happen.
The candidate status is more important than chances parties have at the next election and their political competition, he stated, adding that he wanted Serbia to get the status regardless of the fact that it would help preserve the positions of the parties currently in power.
A negative decision by the EU would strengthen the anti-European forces in Serbia, which is not in EU’s interest, he thinks.
“I cannot even imagine the things that would happen in Serbia if we did not get the status on December 9, and that could make the EU grant the status,” Nikolic pointed out.
He is convinced the government would fall on December 10 if Serbia were denied the candidate status, because all of its capabilities and effort have been related to fulfilling the requirements to secure the status.
“I cannot imagine Serbia not becoming a EU candidate on December 9 and the government officials sleeping well that night or appearing on TV the next day to say it does not matter, like they are saying now about the declaration on Kosovo. I think that honourable people would resign on December 10, and not wait for the Serbian people to force them to do it. We would have to react, of course,” Nikolic remarked.
The government has been able to work freely and done everything on its own, not asking for anyone’s opinion, so it would have nothing to offer if the EU decided negatively, he said.
Nikolic stated that there were rumours about requirements he had not heard of and suggested that Serbian President Boris Tadic, whom he had not seen since April, should not grant any unacceptable demands. When asked what he would do, Nikolic responded that he was not the president and that Tadic had to find his own way out of the situation he himself created.
Source emg.rs
