Socialist Party of Serbia leader Ivica Dacic said in Leskovac on July 12 that it was in Serbia's state and national interest for the south of the country to maintain its population so as not to make room for Albanian separatists advocating the secession of southern Serbia.

"The strategic interest of expanding the Albanian factor in this area implies breaking off this part of southern Serbia as well and turning into some kind of Albanian territory," Dacic told a Socialist Party of Serbia electoral conference in Leskovac.

Dacic, who is also deputy prime minister and interior minister, stressed that it was very important for strategically
significant areas of the country to stay populated and for the state to maintain factories, roads and schools there.
Dacic named two main priorities in Serbia: preserving unity to stop the propagation of separatism and the necessity of decentralization and regionalization.