DSS: Serbia traveling down "aimless path"

This is because Serbia's EU membership is uncertain, he explained, speaking in Belgrade on Thursday. "The membership is uncertain and at this point impossible, not just because Serbia is not ready due to the lack of reforms and the poor level of preparation of the system, but because the EU itself is not ready due to the limited reception capacities," Samardzic told reporters at the parliament building. After the address of EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule to MPs, Samardzic said that if the aim is not clear, the agreement on stabilization and obligations resulting from it change their contents. "It is one if progress toward EU membership is made and completely another if you take a path which has no aim," Samardzic said and added that these are major uncertainties for Serbia which is why there are no reason for ceremonial beginnings such as the one staged on Thursday, or for big expectations either. He noted that the entire process would be difficult and painful for Serbia and that it would bring more damage than good. Samardzic believes that conditions have been met and the opening of the talks will primarily depend on the participation of Serbs in the local elections in Kosovo and on the fulfilment of the plan for the implementation of the Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. "We are behaving as if everything has been completed," Samardžić said and noted that readiness climate is being created although the process is overcast by an open issue of the country's territorial integrity and the matter is also present in Chapter 35 which is open for constant re-evaluation of Belgrade-Pristina relations. "The chapter will be assessed very rigorously by a number of participants because our interlocutors are both the representatives of Brussels and of 28 member countries of which 23, Croatia included, recognized Kosovo," said the former minister for Kosovo, and added that "Chapter 35 might be abused in all special negotiations."