Three quarters of Serbian citizens refuse to trade Kosovo recognition for EU membership
Three quarters of Serbian citizens said they would refuse a trade-off between Kosovo recognition and EU membership, a poll by the agency Politikum showed.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, March 03, 2008
Some 74 percent of the polled refused such a possibility, while 15 percent of the polled said they would accept it.
Nine out of 10 Serbian citizens are opposed to the EU mission in Kosovo, said the poll, which was carried out a day before Kosovo's unilateral secession.
Some 15 percent of the polled said Serbia should accept peacefully the imposed secession of Kosovo, while 19 percent said Serbia should use all means, including military ones to oppose it.
Some 24 percent of the polled said Serbia should use peaceful means, but break diplomatic relations with countries recognizing Kosovo's secession, while 32 percent said Serbia should send harsh diplomatic protests but not break up diplomatic relations.
Some 67 percent of the polled said they were in favor of EU membership of Serbia, while 19 percent said they in favor of NATO membership.
Over 60 percent of Serbs said they were in favor of "closest ties possible" with Russia.
Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica said that "Serbia should not be divided over the issue of joining the EU, rather, it is best and necessary to be united and tell the EU that it can only count on a Serbia with Kosovo, as its province, becoming its member."
"Instead of being divided over the issue of EU membership, it is of utmost importance that as a state and nation we clearly and in a united manner define our goal, this being that only a unified Serbia can be a member of three, for us, major international organizations: the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union," Kostunica said.
He stated that the huge majority of citizens and most parliamentary parties back a unified state and national policy, according to which Kosovo and Metohia is an integral and inalienable part of this country.
As a entire state, Serbia is a member of the UN and a sham state of Kosovo will absolutely never be admitted to the UN, siad Kostunica, recalling that an entire Serbia is also a OSCE member and "this is why the sham state of Kosovo will also never be in the OSCE."
"In keeping with such a united state and national policy, an entire Serbia, together with Kosovo and Metohia, can be a member of the EU. We want to join the EU, but the EU should say that it wants an entire Serbia in its ranks, not a fragmented Serbia," Kostunica underscored.
