Presidential adviser on Croatia's "cantankerous platform"

Presidential adviser on Croatia's "cantankerous platform"

BELGRADE -- Serbia's road toward EU membership "cannot be stopped by someone's whim," presidential adviser and former Serbian foreign minister Ivan Mrkic has said.

Mrkic believes that "an anti-Serb platform of its own kind" always emerges in Croatia during election campaigns, which this year led to a cooling of relations between the neighboring countries.

"It's clear they have some kind of problem. Whenever they hold elections, they gather around this plaform that is cantankerous and anti-Serb. Something like that would never pass here," he said.

Mrkic believes that a political option in Serbia that would have the same approach toward Croatia "would not fare well in elections."

He also believes that despite the strongly-worded messages that have been arriving from Zagreb, Serbia will not encounter problems on its road toward the EU because of Croatia.

"Some individuals that are threatening to halt our road toward the EU are saying frivolous things. There are forms that everyone must respect, and if Serbia fullfils what it should, it will be accepted as a member of the union. I don't believe someone will be able to stop it on that path out of a whim," Mrkic said.

Recently, a public opinion poll showed that 61 percent of Croatian citizens were in favor of "blocking Serbia's membership" until all open issues between the two countries have been resolved.

Miodrag Linta from an association gathering Serb refugees from Croatia expects the country to "declaratively be in favor of EU's enlargement, but treat Belgrade differently."

"They will conduct a policy of conditioning toward Serbia, in order to be able to...