Serbia "not setting conditions for dialogue"

Serbia "not setting conditions for dialogue"

Mihajlovic was also quoted as saying by the Belgrade-based paper that "Serbia, unlike Kosovo" respects all agreements.

"Serbia respects all agreements and contracts, but others have to do it, too. Because what has been attempted is to grab Trepca and the resources by the back door, without even discussing it in Brussels," she said.

Asked by the newspaper ""what Serbia would be satisfied with, that is, whether the possibility has been opened to divide the assets of Trepca," Mihajlovic said, "This will be discussed later."

The minister, who spoke during a visit to Uzice in western Serbia, also said that a law on the origin of property should be amended in order to clarify "how the tycoons acquired their wealth." According to her, that would "protect those who work honestly and punish those who have enriched themselves at the expense of citizens."

Pointing out that "anyone who is acting in accordance with the law will not have problems and should not worry," she said: "We have waited a long time to see how the tycoons earned their first million."

"Those who do not obey the law and are trying to conceal anything, it goes without saying they will have problems, not only in Serbia but in any well-ordered state," said Mihajlovic.

"Avoid escalation"

EU sources were quoted on Tuesday as saying it was "important to avoid any further escalation regarding the Trepca Mining Complex," and adding that the law passed by the assembly in Pristina "bought the time for the consideration of this issue."

There are various options for avoiding the liquidation of Trepca, said officials close to European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and European High Representative Federica Mogherini, the Beta news agency is reporting.

Asked about whether the Belgrade-Pristina dialog would be seriously affected by an attempt of the Pristina authorities to take ownership of Trepca, the majority owner of which is the state of Serbia, which the authorities in Belgrade have warned against, the officials in Brussels stressed that the European Commission was "closely following the issue of Trepca."

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has stated that Serbia is prepared to enter a dialog on the Trepca Combine, and that this would be discussed within the Belgrade-Pristina dialog in Brussels, while the vice premier and foreign minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said that Pristina would not negotiate about this with Belgrade because, in his words - "Trepca is the resource of Kosovo."

Vucic and the foreign minister of Serbia, Dacic, have stated that Pristina wanted to finish the privatization of Trepca before this issue and that of the privatization of Serbia's property in Kosovo are opened in the Brussels dialog.

The Kosovo government said on Tuesday that the Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Combine Trepca was "Kosovo's property" and that any attempt to create confusion that it was allegedly given up was "malicious."

"Trepca is Kosovo's property, an organization on the territory of Kosovo, and therefore, the combine will be managed by the institutions of Kosovo, in the manner provided by law, in the interest of Trepca employees and Kosovo's economic prosperity," according to a statement by the government in Pristina, reported by RTK 2, a Radio Television of Kosovo channel broadcast in Serbian and languages of other minority communities in Kosovo.

The government in Pristina said that the assembly "acted on its request on Monday, adopting amendments to the law on reorganization of certain enterprises and their assets, by which conditions had been created to avoid bankruptcy proceedings and bring Trepca back to normal operation."

The Kosovo government said that it had also sent draft amendments to the law on public enterprises to be debated in the assembly, and the document envisaged adoption of a development strategy and a special law for Trepca.

The government in Pristina released the statement on Tuesday, after some 300 ethnic Albanian miners in the southern part of the Trepca mines had gone on strike, and after the opposition said that it was necessary to organize protests to bring the government down because Trepca had been excluded from the law on privatization.

They demand that the government make an urgent decision to unilaterally take over the company in which the Republic of Serbia Development Fund and several Serbian companies have a 56 percent stake.

The Serbian government reacted sharply to Pristina's intentions, warning them that it would not allow Serbia's public property to be taken away from it, and Vucic "immediately informed Western partners and the EU about it."

The Kosovo assembly then aopted amendments to the law on public enterprises under emergency procedure last night, but Trepca was taken out of the proposed document at the last moment.

Aleksandar Vucic said Monday that, under all relevant laws and the Brussels agreement, the issue of property in Kosovo and Metohija had yet to be opened in the dialogue with Pristina.