Quotes of the Day

"The fact that I am here means that my country is not in crisis." That was the message Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic brought with him to an economic conference in Salzburg this week. Barely 40 hours after he ordered the extradition of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic to the Hague's war crimes tribunal, Djindjic was the main speaker at a lunch of media leaders in Salzburg, where he was attending the World Economic Forum's European Summit. Later, he spoke exclusively to TIME about why he sent Milosevic to the Hague and what that act means for his country.

"Many people in Yugoslavia did not think turning over Milosevic was a priority," he said. "But the world had another opinion about priorities. We had to act. Our words were getting cheaper. We were talking too much but doing nothing."

Asked why, as a longtime supporter of the rule of law, he could ignore the ruling of Yugloslavia's Constitutional Court to block the extradition, the Serbian Prime Minister said that the justices had no legitimacy: "In a normal democracy, they would all be in prison. Twice they were involved in electoral fraud, in the '96 election and again in 2000. They are impossible people. My English is not good enough to describe them."

Djindjic also disputed the assertion by Yugloslavia's President Vojislav Kostunica that he did not know Milosevic would be extradited. Djindjic said he had made clear to Kostunica that he would resign if Yugoslavia's Constitutional Court decided to block extradition. When asked whether Djindjic had informed Kostunica about his plans to ignore the court and extradite Milosevic, the Serbian Prime Minister smiled. When pressed, he indicated that perhaps Kostunica wasn't listening when he told him. Wasn't listening? he was asked. "yes," he replied.

Still, Djindjic maintained that Yugloslavia needs a strong President to deal the problems the country faces, especially the task of keeping Montenegro in the union. "We don't want to suppress Montenegro," said Djindjic. "We have too many problems ourselves."

One suggestion he made was that the federal government restrict itself to "two or three functions" and grant Montenegro — and Serbia, the country's largest constituent — vast autonomy over other matters. He also said that Kostunica is "seen as the person who can bring Yugoslavia back to the world. At a time when the rest of the world is integrating, we in the Balkans are at the highest levels of disintegration." He said Kostunica was necessary to Yugoslavia's economic success. "Reforms can work only with political stability. No one would willingly want to be seen to create instability."

He denied that the Milosevic extradition had caused a serious political crisis in Yugoslavia, even though Zoran Zizic, the federal prime minister, resigned over the incident. "It was easier than expected," he said of the extradition. "Milosevic left on the same helicopter he used for official trips. I don't see any serious problems on the political scene, only on the economic scene. The country is bankrupt. We have had 18 years of criminal government. We've recently had huge floods, and we don't even have 10 million deutschmarks to repair the damage. We don't have any money to build up the economy without help." That, he said, was why he was at the Salzburg economic meeting, which was attended by hundreds of leading business and economic figures. "We have 40% unemployment in Serbia. Our economy is working at 20% to 25% capacity because of the war and the sanctions."

Djindjic acknowledged: "It's not so popular to extradite a president. What would happen if Austria tried to extradite [former U.N. chief and ex-Nazi officer Kurt] Waldheim, or if someone tried to extradite Tony Blair? If we don't get economic help [because we did this], if we don't get jobs, our people will ask why."

• A TIME Exclusive: Serbia's Prime Minister talks about Milosevic's transfer to the Hague