Dačić: The Relations Between Croatia and Serbia Are Key for Everyone in the Region; The Situation Needs to Be Calmed

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić assessed on Tuesday in Bled that the relations between Serbia and Croatia are crucial for relations in the region and emphasized that they need to calm the situation, not escalate it, as reported by Belgrade electronic media.

Dačić told reporters on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum that little progress has been made in resolving the border delimitation issues with Croatia, and that Serbia advocates for resolving problems openly and through dialogue rather than arbitration.

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“We have not moved beyond the statement that – there is no agreement,” Dačić stated, recalling that Serbia’s approach to resolving this issue is that the border runs down the middle of the Danube, while Croatia has a different – cadastral approach.

If a compromise is not reached, Dačić said, as reported by Belgrade media, that arbitration will likely be sought.

“We have never stated that we are going to arbitration. We want these problems to be resolved directly,” Dačić emphasized, who is also the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia.

Dačić assessed that both countries need to show that they can do something “without outside interference.”

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“There has not been much interest from the Croatian side in resolving this issue. I have been the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the last three years, and before that the Prime Minister, and I was the first to talk with (former Croatian Prime Minister) Zoran Milanović about the need to form working groups to resolve open issues between the two countries. However, nothing happened after that, we have not made much progress,” Dačić said, noting that “the border issue is not being raised as urgent by anyone.”

The Serbian Foreign Minister positively assessed the announced meeting of the heads of state of Serbia and Croatia, stating that it is “good to talk,” and that “efforts should be made to improve relations.”

“It is not enough to just talk; we need to work on solving problems,” Dačić stated on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum.

Commenting on the protest note delivered to the Croatian embassy in Belgrade regarding the burning of the weekly SNV Novosti during a protest rally in Zagreb, Dačić said that such notes are “a usual diplomatic tool.”

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“When Šešelj’s supporters burn the Croatian flag – a protest note follows. We do not expect every note to have historical significance, but it is better not to find ourselves in a situation where notes are sent at all. The situation needs to be calmed; it is easy to escalate it,” the Serbian Foreign Minister stated.

Dačić avoided directly answering what Serbia’s stance is on the arbitration solution for the Slovenian-Croatian border.

“We and the Croats have enough problems that we do not need to participate in Slovenian-Croatian issues… We do not enter into the merits of the case – who is right, who is not right. We can possibly discuss whether arbitration decisions should be respected or not. Probably, if someone entered arbitration, they should respect the arbitration decisions,” TV N1 reported Dačić’s statement.