Vučić concerned about Balkan instability: Not Belgrade-Pristina relations, but Bosniak-Serb ties are the issue

Balkan instability is "the only thing Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić fears," who on Wednesday expressed his European commitment to AFP, despite opposition from some citizens to membership in the European Union, reports the Patria News Agency.

"I am not afraid of the future when it comes to the economy. The only thing I fear is regional instability," Vučić said in an interview ahead of his visit to France on Wednesday and Thursday.

He reiterated that his country would oppose Kosovo's membership in the UN. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, recognized by about a hundred countries, but Belgrade does not recognize it, with Moscow's approval. However, "trust has grown" between the parties, he stated.

"I do not consider" Belgrade-Pristina relations to be "the biggest problem in the Balkans," he said, expressing concern for "the ties between Serbia and Bosniaks" on one hand, and "Croats with the two of them" on the other.

"In Serbia, we have 250,000 Bosniaks, and they have a million Serbs in Bosnia," said the center-right leader, re-elected in April.

"My dream is a customs union with all Balkan countries," Vučić added. Such a union "would not be Yugoslavia," he emphasized, 25 years after conflicts that killed 130,000 people in the former Yugoslavia.

"The political leadership of Serbia believes that EU membership is the best path for our country," he said, emphasizing the importance of the EU economy and European companies in Serbia.

"But, on the other hand, the majority" of Serbs "think that the EU harms our state interest, which is a fact," he added.

According to polls, almost 50 percent of Serbs are in favor of EU membership. The traditional ally Russia still enjoys strong popularity in the country.

"Our strategic goal is EU membership. This is not a decision for one side or the other, as some say (...) Yes, we want to maintain good relations with Russia," Vučić said.