07/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - “Giving up on the way to Europe is giving up on Kosovo,” said Serbian President Boris Tadic in the Belgrade daily Press on Sunday 6 January. He believes that turning its back on European integration can only harm his country's efforts to hold on to Kosovo. “Only a strong Serbia can protect its interests with regard to Kosovo,” he said, adding that “Serbia's integration into the EU will strengthen our country in every way”. Tadic's comments come after those on Thursday by his Prime Minister Vojislac Kostunica, who said in effect that the EU had to choose between signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia and “under United States pressure, (sending) a mission to implement the supervised independence of Kosovo, snatching part of Serbia's territory” (see EUROPE 9573). (O.L.)