“Serbia is stronger after Medvedev visit”

FM Vuk Jeremić says that after the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Serbia is “stronger economically, politically and regionally”.

“The unconditional support from Russia makes Serbia stronger than other countries in the region,” the foreign minister said on Sunday.

“During his visit to Belgrade, President Medvedev said that Russia supports Serbia on all fronts, including the membership in the European Union,” Jeremić said, underscoring that Serbia’s foreign policy goals, primarily membership in the EU, “had not changed since Medvedev’s visit”.

Jeremić rejected some statements that Serbia’s moving closer to Russia disturbs and endangers its path towards the EU accession, recalling that EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said that the good relations between the two countries are “more than important both for Serbia and the region”.

“It is possible to be a member of the EU and, at the same time, be a partner and friend of Russia,” said he.

The minister said that Serbia will never accept to have Kosovo to be put as a condition in the EU integration process, and explained that this position is an obligation: according to the Constitution, politically, morally, and historically.

“Serbia’s priorities remain EU membership, fight for and defense of Kosovo, and achieving a leading role in the region,” he emphasized.

Regarding the announced Russian loan to Serbia, Jeremić said that the conditions have yet to be specified, and that the loan would “most certainly be more favorable than all other loans available on the market”.