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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Essential autonomy for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija needed

Belgrade, 29 December 2012

Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic said today that it is realistic to expect that by the end of June next year, during the Irish presidency of the EU, Serbia will beginning talks about getting a date for the start of membership talks.

Author: Tanjug

Dacic said in a New Year’s interview with the Tanjug news agency that the 27 EU states now have perhaps the most positive opinion on Serbia in the last ten years, and the key reasons for this are the progress in dialogue with Pristina and the fight against crime and corruption.

He stressed that when it comes to the issue of Kosovo-Metohija, the entire state leadership believes that it would be the best to go for a comprehensive solution, but given the dynamics of the talks conducted in Brussels and when it will be decided on giving Serbia a date for the start of negotiations, Belgrade does not think that it is realistic that in a month, two or three a substantial progress can be achieved in what Serbia is proposing.

According to him, it is therefore necessary to have a more flexible approach so as not to come into a situation that we cannot either go forward or back, or in a position that negotiations with the EU are cut off negotiations, while at the same time that there is nothing more to talk about in dialogue with Pristina.

Speaking about the resolution that will be proposed to Parliament members on 11 January, after a joint session of government representatives and the President of Serbia, Dacic said that the preparation of the text of the resolution is in course.

The basis for the resolution is the first part of the draft of the Platform that defines basic principles for negotiations, the Prime Minister explained.

The resolution will underline that Serbia will not recognise the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo-Metohija and that the focus of our proposal is the position of the Serbian community in Kosovo-Metohija.

This naturally means that the Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija should have an important vote in the further dialogue and that Serbia believes that all this should be followed by progress in the process of European integration, Dacic pointed out.

We will not depart from these principles in the negotiations and it is necessary that Serbia adopts a framework on how this process should look like.

It remains to be seen what we will manage to achieve of all that. What we do and define will later be transformed into a law on essential autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija. All this that we do and those agreements that were reached in Brussels must be a part of legislation that will deal with essential autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija, which is an expression from UN Security Council 1244. And that is our entire concept and plan regarding Kosovo-Metohija, Dacic concluded.