"Serbia can be neutral mediator in crisis"

"Serbia can be neutral mediator in crisis"

BELGRADE -- Lamberto Zannier believes that Serbia, as the next chairman of the OSCE, "will be able to continue Switzerland's efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine."

"Neutral Switzerland chairs the OSCE this year, and Serbia - an official candidate for membership in the EU - will replace it during 2015," reports the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

"Serbia is in a good position to play the role of an honest broker under the difficult conditions of a rift between East and West. It is what this organization needs - neutral leadership that keeps open all channels of communication with all parties. Switzerland did this perfectly, and Serbia can continue. It has good relations with Moscow, relations with Brussels are on the rise, and a tradition of an active presence in the OSCE," the Italian diplomat said.

Zannier, who serves as secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), spoked during a round table of the European Forum in Austria.

Acting President of the OSCE Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the organization Thomas Greminger added that Serbia is increasingly more active in the OSCE on the issue of the crisis in Ukraine, and that Switzerland is ready to help its in the future presidency.

Greminger stressed that Swiss President Didier Burkhalter last week made it clear that he was ready to play an active role in supporting the Serbian chairmanship.

Director of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Hungarian expert Pal Dunaj, noted that if the Serbian chairmanship was to succeed, it was important that "neither Russia nor the EU pressure it to make an existential choice between Moscow and...