"Kosovo slowing us down on EU path, we must live with that"

"Kosovo slowing us down on EU path, we must live with that"

The press service said in a statement they were for that reason unable to inform the public of the details of the conversation that lasted more than an hour.

This office said that attempts to coordinate a statement with EULEX had failed after EULEX staff "refused, in an utterly brazen and inappropriate manner, to allow the positions of its chief to be released to the public."

The press service also said that his cabinet never has and never will hide the president's activities and his political positions, referring at the same time journalists the EULEX mission in the southern Serbian province for Papadopoulou's statement.

As for the Serbian president, his press service said he "highlighted the mission's significance and contribution to preserving the rule of law in Kosovo and Metohija."

"The policy of non-recognition of Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence is slowing us down on the path of European integration, and we must live with that. Despite this, we will continue to talk to the Albanians. However, if they get as far as being given a mandate to protect the Serbian heritage in UNESCO, we will have no motives to continue the Brussels dialogue," the presidential press office quoted Nikolic as saying.

He added that the limitations that EULEX has in Kosovo are "quite clear" to him, and that it is obvious it has a mandate to make "a well-ordered state out of the so-called Kosovo."

"The issue of the survival and the remaining of the Serb people (in Kosovo) is not only an issue of human rights - those who violate that issue are committing a crime. The way that Kosovo was hijacked from Serbia in 1999 is disgrace the big powers' disgrace, for all time," Nikolic said.

The president also raised the issue of fair trials and transfer of those who were "unjustly convicted" and are now in prisons that offer no guarantees that Serbs incarcerated there will be treated in a civilized manner.

"This goes above all for Oliver Ivanovic," Nikolic stressed, according to his press service.

Meeting with Stefanovic

While in Belgrade, Alexandra Papadopoulou was also received by Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic.

According to the Serbian government's website, they "assessed that the cooperation in the previous period has been constructive, but also that there is room for improvement."

Stefanovic "expressed concern about the threat to fundamental rights and freedoms of Serbs in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and stressed that he expects the support of EULEX in all situations in which the safety and security of the Serbian community are in danger."

Papadopoulou said that EULEX "will continue to perform its advisory and investigative functions, in order to provide greater security for all citizens, and that, in this regard, special attention will be paid to the protection of private property."

Stefanovic "stressed the necessity of cooperation in order to prosecute all organized criminal groups operating on both sides of the administrative line."