President Nikolic and Vice President Aleksandar Vucic discussed previously with Miroslav Lajcak, EU director of the Western Balkans, and as they claim they have analyzed the current situation and discussed what else can be done by SPP to facilitate Serbia's orientation towards the EU.

He said that it was inconceivable that the EU in the following elections would look for the favorites among the parties that were committed to European integration. "EU pleaded among parties that were for Serbia in the EU and those against it, but I think we should not expect the EU to be in any way interfering with the elections by choosing one of the pro-European parties”.

Nikolic confirmed that the European officials discussed request of the Serbian Progressive Party for calling of early elections. "We have spoken partly and  very briefly and received assurances that the EC would not interfere in  solving problems of Serbia," said Nikolic and  added that "the only important is  that Serbia meets all the requirements by October,when the EC will announce an opinion on Belgrade's readiness for candidate status for EU membership.

“We will not obstruct Serbia on its way towards the EU, but now it’s on the authorities to agree on a common goal, which is the candidate status, followed by entering into membership negotiations. Our offer is still valid and we have enough time to come to an agreement before entering into the organization of meeting, "said Nikolic.

On the question of "Politika" whether there has been discussed the upcoming meeting that was announced for April 17th, Nikolic replied: "No, we spoke about the great meeting that was held on February,5th  and that we would be forced to hold the announced meeting, because we also agreed about it with the citizens of Serbia, but we could give up meeting only if the government meet the requirement - calling of early elections by the end of the year. I think that are wrong many that accuse the European Commission to interfere too much, or that some politicians behave as they are said in Brussels. We did not get any directive, we just exchanged opinions."

Author: V. JOKANOVIĆ