PM confirms top officials will travel to Brussels

BELGRADE Serbia’s Prime Minister Ivica Dacic confirmed on Friday that senior Serbian officials will travel to Brussels on March 11 and meet with EU officials. He said that the Serbian delegation would go to Brussels in order to inform the EU representatives that Serbia had proposed everything it had to Pristina. PM confirms top officials will travel to Brussels According to the prime minister, in the upcoming talks on the parallelism of Kosovo institutions, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and he would on Monday present the state unity and confirm that Belgrade wanted an agreement but that it certainly did not include the acceptance of Kosovo’s Constitution. Dacic said that he did not expect the international community representatives to exert pressure on Pristina “because they are used to pressuring Serbia”. “When you exert too much pressure something can break. We have nothing else, the things we proposed we proposed honestly and not a single Serb will offer more than this, only powers matter,” he explained. The prime minister told reporters that Serbia would not change its stance for the sake of a date for the start of the EU accession negotiations, stressing that Nikolic’s proposal was “extremely acceptable” and that there was no reason for Pristina to reject it because there were autonomous areas, regions and cantons in other European states. “I asked them, if Northern Ireland can exist, autonomous regions in Italy, cantons, police ran by the local self-government, why it cannot be in Kosovo. They replied that it resembled the Republic of Srpska (RS),” Dacic said. He added that the RS was a “U.S. invention” created in Dayton and that they did not allow such a solution in Kosovo because they thought that it would be a destabilizing factor. The sixth round of the dialogue, which was considered the most difficult, finished on March 4. Belgrade and Pristina discussed Serbia’s request to form a community of Serb municipalities. No agreement was reached at a several-hour long meeting between Dacic, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci. Dacic told Belgrade-based tabloid Alo that he would travel to the U.S. after his visit to Brussels and that the Kosovo issue would be the main topic. “A UN Security Council session is scheduled for March 22. I will then repeat, just like I have always done, that the solving of the final status of Kosovo is one of the most important priorities of the government I lead, that we are ready for compromises but that Serbia will never recognize the unilaterally declared independence,” the prime minister concluded. Ivica Dacic (Tanjug, file) B92 Tanjug

PM confirms top officials will travel to Brussels

According to the prime minister, in the upcoming talks on the parallelism of Kosovo institutions, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić and he would on Monday present the state unity and confirm that Belgrade wanted an agreement but that it certainly did not include the acceptance of Kosovo’s Constitution.

Dačić said that he did not expect the international community representatives to exert pressure on Priština “because they are used to pressuring Serbia”.

“When you exert too much pressure something can break. We have nothing else, the things we proposed we proposed honestly and not a single Serb will offer more than this, only powers matter,” he explained.

The prime minister told reporters that Serbia would not change its stance for the sake of a date for the start of the EU accession negotiations, stressing that Nikolić’s proposal was “extremely acceptable” and that there was no reason for Priština to reject it because there were autonomous areas, regions and cantons in other European states.

“I asked them, if Northern Ireland can exist, autonomous regions in Italy, cantons, police ran by the local self-government, why it cannot be in Kosovo. They replied that it resembled the Republic of Srpska (RS),” Dačić said.

He added that the RS was a “U.S. invention” created in Dayton and that they did not allow such a solution in Kosovo because they thought that it would be a destabilizing factor.

The sixth round of the dialogue, which was considered the most difficult, finished on March 4. Belgrade and Priština discussed Serbia’s request to form a community of Serb municipalities. No agreement was reached at a several-hour long meeting between Dačić, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci.

Dačić told Belgrade-based tabloid Alo that he would travel to the U.S. after his visit to Brussels and that the Kosovo issue would be the main topic.

“A UN Security Council session is scheduled for March 22. I will then repeat, just like I have always done, that the solving of the final status of Kosovo is one of the most important priorities of the government I lead, that we are ready for compromises but that Serbia will never recognize the unilaterally declared independence,” the prime minister concluded.