"Serbia wants to open Chapter 35 as soon as possible"

"Serbia wants to open Chapter 35 as soon as possible"

Serbia wants to avoid the moving target approach, whereby the bar for opening and subsequently closing the chapter would be raised higher and higher, Đurić said.

For that reason, Serbia and the European Commission are jointly trying to define a way to conduct discussions on Chapter 35 so that Serbia does not depend on the political circumstances among Kosovo's ethnic Albanians or the situation in the interim self-government institutions in Priština, Đurić said.

"If, at some point, Priština is not ready to discuss something, reach an agreement, or is setting unrealistic conditions, it should not be at the expense of Serbia's European integrations," Đurić explained.

The responsibility also rests with the European Commission and the member states, which must identify the strategic significance of Serbia's EU membership and a successful conclusion of the talks, he said.

Serbia also wants to open negotiations on property with the Kosovo Albanians, Đurić said, adding that privately-owned Serb property, as well as property owned by the state of Serbia, has been usurped and privatised since the arrival of the international community in 1999 and the introduction of the interim administration in the province.

As long as the issue of property in Kosovo remains unresolved, there can be no favorable climate for investors and creating new jobs, which also means that the required economic development will not take place, Đurić noted.

There will be no healthy society in Kosovo before all those who have committed crimes are eliminated from the political and public life and brought to justice, Đurić noted.

The steps taken by the international community and the EULEX special investigating team, headed by US prosecutor Clint Williamson, offer the Serbs the hope that this will happen, he said.

An overall positive political climate and progress in normalizing the ties between Belgrade and Priština call for compliance with the Amnesty Law, Đurić said, noting that Oliver Ivanović, the leader of Civic Initiative Freedom, Democracy and Justice, has now been in detention for six months without valid evidence or an indictment raised.

"Any instance of detaining people or holding them in detention without indictments undermines the trust the Kosovo and Metohija population has in domestic and international justice and moves us further away from the desired objectives," he concluded.