Belgrade: Serbia needs a national government that will tend exclusively to Serbia’s domestic and national interests, the DSS leader Vojislav Kostunica said yesterday.

Kostunica said, “The idea of a national government can be made a reality if there is recognition of the significance of the moment Serbia finds itself in today. This means, above all, the will to take the decision for Serbia to form a national government that will handle its own state and national interests independently, without pressure or outside influence.”

According to Kostunica, the new national government should begin talks with the EU on an equal basis, because all other European countries had the right to a level playing field, and Serbia should be no exception. Equal relations were guaranteed by the very founding acts that the EU was based on.

Kostunica said, “Serbia has for all the many centuries of its existence been a European state, and there has never been any other Serbia than a European one—economically, politically, culturally, and in every other sense.”

He said that given that Serbia was located on the European continent, and that no one had any intention of moving her out of Europe, “the obligation of the new national government will be to protect our essential interests, and to ensure the country’s strong economic growth.”

“That is the real and only reason for creating a national government. In the days ahead, we will see if the strength, sincere will and necessary political awareness required to create a national coalition and protect the essential interests of the country and people exists,” the DSS leader said.