“Search for solution for Kosovo is underway”

BELGRADE We are looking for a solution for the Kosovo issue that will be temporary due to the province's unresolved status, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has stated. The prime minister and Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) leader added that a solution could only be found through dialogue. “Search for solution for Kosovo is underway” At a Main Board meeting of the SPS on Saturday, Dacic said that a draft platform on Kosovo was the first document that the Serbian president had presented to representatives of the international community. “This is our view of the solving of the issue and there has been enough of the policy that Kosovo is Serbia while in real life Kosovo is getting farther away from Serbia,” the SPS leader noted. He said that the priority was care for the people living in Kosovo and that it was hypocritical of those who fled the country during NATO bombing and sent their children to schools in the EU to blame the Socialists for the situation in Kosovo and its policies. “If that’s the way it is, come back, all of you, and we will live in isolation,” Dacic pointed out. “SPS fought a war for Kosovo and those who were handing over Kosovo a day after day for 13 years and did not manage to preserve what we did are accusing us. Many factors of Kosovo’s subjectivity were built during their time. We must save what can be saved,” he noted. Dacic noted that the SPS and he personally were facing a big test and advocated “rational policy” that would solve the issue of Kosovo and Serbia’s economic problems. “Next year will be a year of big tests, get ready because there will be no postponement or the second examination period and we cannot run away from the battlefield,” he stressed. Commenting on the state platform for Kosovo, the SPS leader and PM said that Serbia had placed interest of Serbs in the center of its policy and that it had offered the dialogue to Kosovo Albanians. “We need a solution for Kosovo and Metohija that will respect legitimate interest of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” Dacic said. Ivica Dacic (Tanjug, file) “Serbia deserves to join EU” Dacic said that Serbia deserved to join the EU and at the same time preserve its national identity. According to him, Serbia needs the EU because of economic development and it deserves to join the EU but not with humiliation of national interests. “Serbia deserves to join the EU but with its national identity and not just by accepting everything that seems to come as an encouragement from Brussels,” Dacic said and underscored that this was also an obligation to the coming generations. During the session of the SPS Main Board in Belgrade's Sava Center, he noted that the reasons for Serbia's EU accession also included the facts he had learnt during his recent stay in Bulgaria. Addressing the members of the SPS Main Board, Dacic said that his talks with Bulgarian officials covered the construction of the pipeline which would cost Bulgaria and Serbia around EUR 60mn each. “The EU granted Serbia EUR 10mn and we will have to ensure the remaining EUR 50mn by ourselves, while Bulgaria's entire costs were covered by the EU,” he explained and added that Serbia obviously needed to make progress on its EU pathway. Tanjug

“Search for solution for Kosovo is underway”

At a Main Board meeting of the SPS on Saturday, Dačić said that a draft platform on Kosovo was the first document that the Serbian president had presented to representatives of the international community.

“This is our view of the solving of the issue and there has been enough of the policy that Kosovo is Serbia while in real life Kosovo is getting farther away from Serbia,” the SPS leader noted.

He said that the priority was care for the people living in Kosovo and that it was hypocritical of those who fled the country during NATO bombing and sent their children to schools in the EU to blame the Socialists for the situation in Kosovo and its policies.

“If that’s the way it is, come back, all of you, and we will live in isolation,” Dačić pointed out.

“SPS fought a war for Kosovo and those who were handing over Kosovo a day after day for 13 years and did not manage to preserve what we did are accusing us. Many factors of Kosovo’s subjectivity were built during their time. We must save what can be saved,” he noted.

Dačić noted that the SPS and he personally were facing a big test and advocated “rational policy” that would solve the issue of Kosovo and Serbia’s economic problems.

“Next year will be a year of big tests, get ready because there will be no postponement or the second examination period and we cannot run away from the battlefield,” he stressed.

Commenting on the state platform for Kosovo, the SPS leader and PM said that Serbia had placed interest of Serbs in the center of its policy and that it had offered the dialogue to Kosovo Albanians.

“We need a solution for Kosovo and Metohija that will respect legitimate interest of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” Dačić said.

“Serbia deserves to join EU”

Dačić said that Serbia deserved to join the EU and at the same time preserve its national identity.

According to him, Serbia needs the EU because of economic development and it deserves to join the EU but not with humiliation of national interests.

“Serbia deserves to join the EU but with its national identity and not just by accepting everything that seems to come as an encouragement from Brussels,” Dačić said and underscored that this was also an obligation to the coming generations.

During the session of the SPS Main Board in Belgrade's Sava Center, he noted that the reasons for Serbia's EU accession also included the facts he had learnt during his recent stay in Bulgaria.

Addressing the members of the SPS Main Board, Dačić said that his talks with Bulgarian officials covered the construction of the pipeline which would cost Bulgaria and Serbia around EUR 60mn each.

“The EU granted Serbia EUR 10mn and we will have to ensure the remaining EUR 50mn by ourselves, while Bulgaria's entire costs were covered by the EU,” he explained and added that Serbia obviously needed to make progress on its EU pathway.