FM: EU made "no official request" regarding Kosovo

FM: EU made "no official request" regarding Kosovo

"The EU will be able to request this once it reaches unanimity, however five member states have not recognized Kosovo," Dacic added.

He said that "official documents" of the EU do not say that Serbia must to recognize Kosovo, adding this issue "has not been discussed."

"Someone can say this in informal talks, but in officials talks there was no request of the kind," said the minister.

Dacic said that "EU's papers read that Serbia has an obligation to make progress in the dialogue and that this dialogue should be status neutral."

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Saturday the EU will ask Serbia to recognize Kosovo, adding that a national consensus on this issue should be reached as soon as possible.

OSCE chairmanship

Ivica Dacic also spoke about Serbia's OSCE chairmanship due to start on January 1 to say it was "a great challenge, but also a chance for Serbia to show that it could play the role of a fair mediator in peaceful resolution of conflicts."

Dacic said it will take "a lot of work and wisdom"to chair this organization.

At the OSCE ministerial meeting in Basel that has just finished, everyone lent support to Belgrade for its future presidency, he said.

The first opportunity for the chairmanship will be at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on January 15, which will mark the formal start of assuming the office from the former chair - Switzerland.

Dacic said that in the meantime he will visit several European capitals, where he will hold talks on Serbia's presidency.

The minister announced that he will visit Paris on December 18 and confer with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius, Moscow on December 19, and then Kiev on December 22.

OSCE is participating in the operation of the Trilateral Contact Group (Russia and Ukraine) on the Ukrainian crisis, Dacic said, adding that Heidi Tagliavini, who has served as special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office to the Trilateral Contact Group with Russia and Ukraine, confirmed on Saturday that she is accepting his proposal to stay in this office.

Dacic said that the 22nd ministerial meeting of the OSCE in Belgrade on December 3 and 4 will be the most significant meeting of 2015.

As for other bilateral visit by the end of this year, Dacic announced that he will visit Latvia on December 10 because this country will assume the six-month presidency of the EU as of January 1.

"The second meeting of the Stabilization and Accession Council between Serbia and the EU will be held in Brussels on December 17, at which the EU will be represented by Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, while Johannes Hahn, European commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, is also expected to appear, whereas the Serbian delegation will be led by Jadranka Joksimovic, Serbian minister without portfolio in charge of the European integration process,” said Dacic.

During his news conference, the minister also touched on South Stream, saying the abandoning of the project would be damaging to everyone's interests.