“EU does not want partition of Kosovo”

BELGRADE Mentioning of territorial integrity has nothing to do with Kosovo’s status, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS). He added that the European Commission (EC) had clearly stated in its report that it remained status neutral. “EU does not want partition of Kosovo” “Our request only means that we do not want the partition of Kosovo,” Fule stressed. He said that mentioning of Kosovo’s territorial integrity should not come as a surprise. “We are not revealing some new concept. A principle that Kosovo’s borders will not be changed was stated by the Contact Group in November 2005 in its guidelines for the negotiations on Kosovo’s status. Mentioning of the territorial integrity has nothing to do with Kosovo’s status and the Commission clearly said in its report that it remains status neutral,” the enlargement commissioner explained. He said that he did not want to comment on Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic’s statement that mentioning of the territorial integrity was unacceptable and that he would clear the doubts and ease tensions at a meeting with him. Fule said that “normalization of relations” meant ensuring a possibility for both sides to make progress on the EU pathway without blocking each other. When asked who had the right to say on behalf of the EU what Serbia needed to do in order to start the EU accession talks, he said that the answer had been clear even before the report was released. “European Council’s conclusions speak of a visible and sustainable improvement of relations with Kosovo and state regional cooperation, implementation of agreements, agreement on telecommunications and energy and cooperation with EULEX. Once that is done we will recommend negotiations and member states will decide on it. This does not mean that the normalization of relations will be finished with those issues,” the EU commissioner pointed out. Fule presented the annual EC report on Serbia’s progress in Brussels on Wednesday. As expected the EC did not recommend that Serbia be given a date for the beginning of the accession talks. Dacic said that a request that Serbia should respect Kosovo’s territorial integrity, which can be found in a document dubbed Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2012-2013, could jeopardize the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. Fule came to Belgrade on Wednesday and he will present the EC report at a meeting of the parliamentary European Integrations Committee. He will also meet with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Dacic. Stefan Fule (Tanjug, file) B92 RTS

“EU does not want partition of Kosovo”

“Our request only means that we do not want the partition of Kosovo,” Fule stressed.

He said that mentioning of Kosovo’s territorial integrity should not come as a surprise.

“We are not revealing some new concept. A principle that Kosovo’s borders will not be changed was stated by the Contact Group in November 2005 in its guidelines for the negotiations on Kosovo’s status. Mentioning of the territorial integrity has nothing to do with Kosovo’s status and the Commission clearly said in its report that it remains status neutral,” the enlargement commissioner explained.

He said that he did not want to comment on Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić’s statement that mentioning of the territorial integrity was unacceptable and that he would clear the doubts and ease tensions at a meeting with him.

Fule said that “normalization of relations” meant ensuring a possibility for both sides to make progress on the EU pathway without blocking each other.

When asked who had the right to say on behalf of the EU what Serbia needed to do in order to start the EU accession talks, he said that the answer had been clear even before the report was released.

“European Council’s conclusions speak of a visible and sustainable improvement of relations with Kosovo and state regional cooperation, implementation of agreements, agreement on telecommunications and energy and cooperation with EULEX. Once that is done we will recommend negotiations and member states will decide on it. This does not mean that the normalization of relations will be finished with those issues,” the EU commissioner pointed out.

Fule presented the annual EC report on Serbia’s progress in Brussels on Wednesday. As expected the EC did not recommend that Serbia be given a date for the beginning of the accession talks.

Dačić said that a request that Serbia should respect Kosovo’s territorial integrity, which can be found in a document dubbed Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2012-2013, could jeopardize the Belgrade-Priština dialogue.

Fule came to Belgrade on Wednesday and he will present the EC report at a meeting of the parliamentary European Integrations Committee. He will also meet with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić and Dačić.