First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic finds that the conduct of the Croatian Government has gone beyond any normal limits.

"The rhetoric, the language and the undisguised hatred emanating from every statement or public appearance they make is no longer a need associated with the ongoing election campaign in Croatia, but a reflection of a pathological obsession with Serbia and an anti-Serb hysteria whipped up in Croatia by the Government. Serbia cannot be treated that way, we do not allow anyone to do that, not even the most powerful countries, let alone Croatia, which cannot even protect 10 Cyrillic name plates and where fascist salutes still reverberate at public events.

Why are not they bragging about it in Brussels, but rather keep completely quiet there as they take criticism from the leading people of the EU and U.S. for trying to trip up Serbia? Does the Croatian Government have nothing else to deal with instead of stirring up hatred against Serbia and Serbs?

The fact that Prime Minister Vucic met with the President of Croatia and that we do not allow ourselves to behave the way the Croatian Government behaves, is a sign of our strength, not weakness. Spreading hatred is easy, reconciling people is hard. The amount of lies about what Serbia allegedly needs to do is inversely proportional to the actual opening benchmarks for Serbia.

Croatia should first try to convince more than a dozen EU Member States having universal jurisdiction over war crimes, including Germany. How come that they had no problem with crimes committed in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia being tried in Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany? Or, how come they did not object when the trials for the crimes committed at Ovcara, in Lovas or Zvornik were held under the present law? Serbia will not let anyone humiliate it. With such behaviour, Croatia is not becoming a problem for Serbia, but for Europe. It is high time that the Croatian Government came to its senses and put a halt to this dirty show playing to the home galleries, yet inflicting damage on the entire region.

After all, a government that could not remain in office for more than six months, a government that was not even able to keep itself intact, will certainly not be able to protect Croatian interests. On the contrary, all it does is undermine the reputation of Croatia as well as compromise stability in the region. Nevertheless, the process of reconciliation and good-neighbourly relations based on common interests is the only way ahead for our peoples and states in the future."