"Serbia remains committed to finding compromise"

BELGRADE Serbia will stick by its concept of Serb municipalities and remain firmly committed to working out a compromise in the dialogue with Pristina authorities. This was concluded by the country's top leaders who ended their meeting in Belgrade on Sunday evening. "Serbia remains committed to finding compromise" Serbia's state leaders will hold on to this despite the fact that the authorities in Pristina have not yet made any move to show readiness for a constructive discussion on modalities for reaching a solution, Presidential Adviser Marko Djuric told reporters after the meeting. “We arrived at a conclusion that Pristina has not moved an inch from the position it took since the beginning of negotiations. We concluded that they were not sufficiently constructive in the first part of the dialogue and we are now sending a clear message that we expect them to be far more constructive in the continuation of the dialogue,” Djuric said. Djuric added that Serbia expects from the EU to remain an impartial mediator and to spur Pristina to adopting a constructive approach, as the Albanian side has proven to be “far less ready to work towards a solution that would satisfy the interests of both sides." He stressed that Serbia has a clear concept for the establishment of a community of Serb municipalities, which should have its own jurisdiction over many areas of public activity, such as the judiciary, police, education. Djuric also said Serbia is ready to lead serious talks on this topic. The senior state officials met at the presidential residence in Belgrade's neighborhood of Dedinje on the eve of the new round of talks to analyze the results of the Brussels-based dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina to date. The meeting was attended by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU integration Suzana Grubjesic, Presidential Adviser Marko Djuric and Director of the government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin. The sixth round of talks between the senior political representatives of Belgrade and Pristina will kick off in Brussels on Monday morning, and its main theme will be the concept for a community of Serb municipalities in Kosovo. During the last round of talks, the Serbian delegation has put forward its idea that such a community should be given executive powers, which was resolutely refused by the Pristina side. The senior officials already had a meeting Friday, at which they stressed that the government was standing firm when it came to its position on the issue of Kosovo and the dialogue with Pristina. The meeting's participants urged the international community to explain to Pristina that it had to be willing to make concessions if it wanted to reach a compromise. Djuric told reporters after that meeting that the talks had reached a “key crossroads.” “Serbia's commitment to reaching a compromise will not be called into question, but the Serbian side cannot be expected to be the only one making concessions,” he stressed. The prime minister said several days ago that big problems lied ahead in the talks with Pristina, adding that he did not know what he and Thaci would talks about in Brussels on March 4. He recalled that in the previous round of talks they had reached an agreement in principle under which the problem of parallel institutions in Kosovo could be solved by establishing a community of Serb municipalities. “The Kosovo authorities, however, will not let the community of Serb municipalities to have any executive powers, and in general, they do not want to accept anything they do not have to, especially if nobody is forcing them to,” said the Serbian prime minister. Dacic noted that “it takes two, and in this case even three, to make a compromise, since the dialogue is mediated by the European Union”. Marko Djuric addresses reporters in Belgrade on Sunday (Tanjug) B92 Tanjug

"Serbia remains committed to finding compromise"

Serbia's state leaders will hold on to this despite the fact that the authorities in Priština have not yet made any move to show readiness for a constructive discussion on modalities for reaching a solution, Presidential Adviser Marko Đurić told reporters after the meeting.

“We arrived at a conclusion that Priština has not moved an inch from the position it took since the beginning of negotiations. We concluded that they were not sufficiently constructive in the first part of the dialogue and we are now sending a clear message that we expect them to be far more constructive in the continuation of the dialogue,” Đurić said.

Đurić added that Serbia expects from the EU to remain an impartial mediator and to spur Priština to adopting a constructive approach, as the Albanian side has proven to be “far less ready to work towards a solution that would satisfy the interests of both sides."

He stressed that Serbia has a clear concept for the establishment of a community of Serb municipalities, which should have its own jurisdiction over many areas of public activity, such as the judiciary, police, education.

Đurić also said Serbia is ready to lead serious talks on this topic.

The senior state officials met at the presidential residence in Belgrade's neighborhood of Dedinje on the eve of the new round of talks to analyze the results of the Brussels-based dialogue between Belgrade and Priština to date.

The meeting was attended by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU integration Suzana Grubješić, Presidential Adviser Marko Đurić and Director of the government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin.

The sixth round of talks between the senior political representatives of Belgrade and Priština will kick off in Brussels on Monday morning, and its main theme will be the concept for a community of Serb municipalities in Kosovo.

During the last round of talks, the Serbian delegation has put forward its idea that such a community should be given executive powers, which was resolutely refused by the Priština side.

The senior officials already had a meeting Friday, at which they stressed that the government was standing firm when it came to its position on the issue of Kosovo and the dialogue with Priština.

The meeting's participants urged the international community to explain to Priština that it had to be willing to make concessions if it wanted to reach a compromise.

Đurić told reporters after that meeting that the talks had reached a “key crossroads.”

“Serbia's commitment to reaching a compromise will not be called into question, but the Serbian side cannot be expected to be the only one making concessions,” he stressed.

The prime minister said several days ago that big problems lied ahead in the talks with Priština, adding that he did not know what he and Thaci would talks about in Brussels on March 4.

He recalled that in the previous round of talks they had reached an agreement in principle under which the problem of parallel institutions in Kosovo could be solved by establishing a community of Serb municipalities.

“The Kosovo authorities, however, will not let the community of Serb municipalities to have any executive powers, and in general, they do not want to accept anything they do not have to, especially if nobody is forcing them to,” said the Serbian prime minister.

Dačić noted that “it takes two, and in this case even three, to make a compromise, since the dialogue is mediated by the European Union”.