Stance on Kosovo in international organizations "unchanged"

Stance on Kosovo in international organizations "unchanged"

Commenting on reports in Serbian media that Germany will not ratify the agreement on Serbia's EU accession until Kosovo becomes a full UN member, Djuric said:

"Serbia's position regarding membership of our southern province in international organizations has not changed an iota. It is only as an integral country that Serbia can be a member of international organizations. Our position is based on international law and political and moral reasons," Djuric said at the third high-level regional forum on permanent solutions for displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, that heard there were more than 200,000 displaced Serb and other non-Albanians from Kosovo currently in central Serbia.

Djuric said that Serbian officials maintain constant dialogue with officials of EU member states and that he did not want to comment on "unofficial positions."

"No official, formal or informal signal has arrived regarding any new pressure" over the matter, Djuric said.

Asked "what message he was sending by denying the existence of the Kosovo government," Djuric said he respects the fact a large number of people in Kosovo and Metohija have a stance on the status of the southern Serbian province that is different to what is declared by the Constitution of Serbia.

"As a citizen and a representative of the government, I choose to represent the position laid down in the Constitution, and I believe in it privately, too, and stand for it," Djuric said.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in 2008 unilaterally declared independence - something that Serbia considers a violation of its territorial integrity and Constitution.

He added that today's meeting did not address the question of the status of the southern Serbian province, but solving the problems of the people who were displaced "precisely due to the conflict that emerged on a wave of mutual hostility, hatred and chauvinism."

Djuric also pointed out that he believes coexistence is possible in Kosovo regardless of the fundamental disagreement on the status issue - and that this issue should not be tied to the return of people displaced from their homes in Kosovo.