Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader Vojislav Kostunica said Sunday that the solution to the current economic crisis is not membership in the European Union and that is why it is in the best interest of Serbia to forget about the EU.

Kostunica said at a session of the party main board that Serbia has to develop as an economically independent and politically neutral country, and that that is the solution to the current crisis, rather than membership in the European Union. Therefore DSS proposes that Serbia take a new direction, to be independent as a state and politically and militarily neutral, he said.

Our goal is to develop economic cooperation with EU countries, not membership in the Union. The capital of Serbia is not Brussels, and DSS will not give up on Serbia for the sake of alleged higher interests, Kostunica said.

The government does not care that people are hungry, does not worry about the calls for Vojvodina and Sandzak to be republics, but rather about the possibility that the European Union may relent after all blackmail and grant the status of candidate to the country, he said.

Absence of candidacy could be a good reason to lead Serbia into a serious discussion over what the country needs to do next, Kostunica said.