President to back government in rejecting Pristina's demands

President to back government in rejecting Pristina's demands

"The EU itself is restraining from setting conditions whose acceptance would mean the acceptance of the independence of the southern Serbian province," he said.

The president added that he was "right when he said Serbia was very close to the red line in the talks, one it must not cross if it respects its own state and its Constitution."

"Albanians are using the negotiations to have Serbia transfer as much rights to them as possible, and if that hits a snag, they they bilaterally, outside of the negotiations, seek membership in organizations that should be organizations of states," Nikolic said, describing this as "not a basis for sincere negotiating."

Earlier in the week reports in Belgrade said that Pristina's new demands include EU's guarantee that Serbia's membership in the Union would be made conditional on "recognition of the state of Kosovo," as well as "demarcation of the border between the states of Kosovo and Serbia" and "neighborly respect, cooperation in spheres of interest for both sides, and war reparations."

Edita Tahiri, a minister in the Kosovo government who on Wednesday presented a document containing these demands to the Kosovo Assembly in Pristina, late on Thursday accused Belgrade of engaging in "manipulations."

According to Tahiri, Pristina is "not putting conditions before Serbia in any way" because the document in question was "not new." Instead, it was submitted to Brussels in 2014, she said.

As for the reasons she presented it on Wednesday, Tahiri said this was done "because too much time had passed since she informed MPs about the progress in the negotiations with Belgrade."

Tahiri added that Wednesday was "a chance to explain to them what they asked to be included on the negotiating table from the beginning."

In Belgrade, PM Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday the Serbian National Assembly could hold a session by the end of the year dedicated to Pristina's conditions regarding the implementation of the Brussels agreement.

Vucic also spoke on the phone with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and they "agreed it is necessary to implement the agreements that Belgrade and Pristina reached in Brussels as soon as possible."