Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday that Croatia was becoming less interested in countries of the region as it was getting closer to EU membership, adding that proof of it was the fact that no agreement had been reached yet that would allow citizens of Serbia and Croatia to cross the border between the two countries without passports.
Dacic was speaking at a security forum in Belgrade where one of the topics was Croatia's engagement in the region after its accession to the European Union, due in July 2013. He said that Serbia would have to renew with Croatia the initiative to allow citizens of the two countries to cross the border using only their ID cards.
"It's more in Croatia's interest, because of tourists from Serbia," Dacic said, noting that Croatia had already signed such an agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. He added that Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and the then Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor had accepted this initiative of his, but that its "legal and political implementation" had failed to materialise.
Dacic said that Serbia had such agreements in place with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic disagreed with the assessment that after EU accession Croatia would be less interested in regional security, citing good regional cooperation in combating organised crime and terrorism.
