Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic stated that the greatest challenges Serbia will face on its European pathway in the coming months are restitution, abolition of blank resignations and cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

In an interview for the Friday issue of the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti, Djelic underlined that the solutions enshrined in the law on restitution “have to correct injustice, but not at the expense of the nation's future.”

“The return of property in the form of building land would devastate local budgets, and strip the country's budget off billions of euros. Therefore, Serbia will have to apply a more modest mode of restitution, similar to the one which was carried out in much more powerful Germany,” Djelic said.

Speaking of the abolition of blank resignations which the EU deems problematic, Djelic underlined that Serbia should protect its interests, as any EU member state, but it cannot shun its obligations, he said.

Recalling that Serbia has already hosted two EC expert missions, and that the third one is presently in our country, Djelic said that the first responses to the answers Serbia gave to the EC questionnaire can be boiled down to “no comment”.

“It is not a coincidence that the first missions are dealing with judiciary, the fight against corruption, independent bodies, and human rights. These are the key issues for obtaining a candidate status, together with cooperation with the ICTY,” Djelic concluded.