Strasbourg, 22/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The head of the S&D Group at the European Parliament (EP), Hannes Swoboda, said on Tuesday 22 May that, as far as the EU's policy for the Balkans was concerned, the election of Tomislav Nikolic as the new president of Serbia on 20 May was a “hard blow” and it was important that Nikolic be told that if he wants to be a European, he will have to radically change his views and nationalist attitude. Swoboda added that the election would not prevent the EU from trying to incorporate other Balkans nations, because the integration process cannot be stopped just because Serbia has close ties with Moscow. Joseph Daul, the head of the EPP Group at the EP, said Nikolic would have to make a choice. The new president has very strong views on Europe, said Daul, and he will have to make choices for his country and for the integration of the Balkans region, indicating he expected the new president to give some indication.
The day before, EP rapporteur on Serbia, Jelko Kacin (ALDE), was more positive, pointing out that Nidolic had expressed pro-European views and Serbia has not reached a stage in its process of moving towards the EU in which any presidential candidate must work hard to speed through EU-linked reforms. Kacin said that regional cooperation, including dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, remained of key importance for success of Serbia's application to join the EU. (CG/transl.fl)