- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Serb presidential candidates go head to head in live TV debate

Subscribe
The Serbian pro-European incumbent president and his pro-Russian challenger clashed Wednesday night in a live televised debate on Serbia's future ahead of a crucial runoff.
BELGRADE, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - The Serbian pro-European incumbent president and his pro-Russian challenger clashed Wednesday night in a live televised debate on Serbia's future ahead of a crucial runoff.

Serbian Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic is currently neck-and-neck in the opinion polls with incumbent Boris Tadic ahead of the February 3 runoff. Nikolic, widely considered an anti-Western far-right figure, gained a five-point advantage in the January 20 first voting round, sparking concerns in the EU.

Tadic said in the live debate that Serbia was at a crossroads as the country had to choose whether to continue its integration with the European Union or face isolation.

Meanwhile, Nikolic said that Serbia had two roads: one, which was open towards the Russian Federation, and the other, which had many obstacles, towards the European Union.

Tadic also said that he wanted closer ties with Russia but did not want to see Serbia as a Russian province as proposed by Nikolic.

However, his challenger said that Serbia would never be ether a Russian province or a European colony.

During the TV debates that lasted about two hours, the contenders discussed various aspects of Serbia's domestic and foreign policy, including the future status of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo.

Both Tadic and Nikolic are strongly opposed to Kosovo's independence, but Nikolic has promised a tougher stance on relations with the European Union, if it recognizes the breakaway province's statehood.

The Albanian-dominated Serbian province of Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999.

Most Western states back the volatile area's drive for independence, and recently agreed that Kosovo's status would be determined by the European Union and NATO. Russia insists that Belgrade and Pristina continue to seek a compromise.

Kosovo's newly elected Prime Minister Hashim Thaci earlier said Pristina's independence was an accomplished fact and would be declared as soon as the United States and the European Union were ready to recognize it.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала