Vuk Jeremic, foreign minister of Serbia, spoke at SAIS today on "Serbia, the United

States, and the Riddle of Europe," discussing Serbia's hopes to be part of the stable,
democratic space on the European continent, and the outstanding issues that still
present obstacles to this goal. Jeremic is a close associate of Serbian President Boris
Tadic, and serves as a foreign policy advisor to him before becoming foreign
minister.

Jeremic began by stating his belief that Europe was one of the only strong and
stable regions of the world, and that to maintain it as a zone of peace and stability,
it had to be whole. This required not only bringing countries like his own into the
European Union, but also involving the EU's eastern neighbors; forging a pragmatic,
friendly relationship with Russia and embracing Turkey. He emphasized the
importance of Turkey, because of its potential as an energy transit route and a
"capacity multiplier" for European influence in the Middle East. It was interesting for
him to be taking such a stand on Turkey's ambition to join the EU; he later
responded to a question that this was his personal opinion, and the Serbian
government had no official position.

Since the end of the Milosevic regime, Serbia had consolidated its democracy and
ended its isolation from the international community. A Stabilization and Association
Agreement had recently been concluded with the EU, a first step toward
membership. Serbia's relationship with the United States had also improved, and
Jeremic was optimistic it would continue to do so. He then moved on to discuss the
disagreements between Serbia and the US and EU, on issues relating to Bosnia and
Kosovo. Preserving peace and democracy in the Balkans could not be achieved by
"outside" actors "imposing predetermined outcomes." A "rigid agenda" for Kosovo's
independence and a more centralized government in Bosnia would be illegitimate.
Serbia had an absolute commitment to a "one Bosnia policy," and would never
support the breakup of the country, just as it opposed threats to the territorial
integrity of any UN member state. But it was clear enough that he was firmly
against Bosnia moving to a more centralized political setup, dismantling the
autonomy of the two current 'entities,' the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb
Republica Sprska. It would appear from these statements that Serbia prefers the
status quo, and is resistant to pressure from the West for Bosnia to come up with a
different arrangement.

Earlier this month, Kosovo's foreign minister had told an audience in the same room
that the independence of Kosovo was settled, and could not be discussed any
further. Jeremic said that the status of Kosovo was still an open issue. Because the
unilateral declaration of independence in 2008 had not been endorsed by the UN
Security Council, or recognized by a majority of UN member states, it was not
sustainable. Jeremic called for a return to dialogue to find a solution that all sides
could accept. An opportunity for such dialogue would be created, he said, once the
International Court of Justice ruled on Serbia's challenge to Kosovo's declaration.
Serbia was firmly committed to resolving the issue peacefully, but the world could
not expect that it would acquiesce eventually.