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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Principles for negotiations on Kosovo to be presented before MPs on 11 January

Belgrade, 31 December 2012

Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic stated today that the Platform on Kosovo-Metohija consists of three documents – the basic principles for negotiations, proposal for the autonomy of the southern province and an analysis of the international position of Serbia.

In an interview to New Year’s issue of Blic daily, Dacic said that the government has worked on these three documents since August.

The first and basic are the principles for negotiations and this document will be adopted as a resolution, we are working together on it, and it will be proposed by the Serbian government, Dacic said.

The second document is the proposal for the autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija, prepared by the Office of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, while the third is an analysis of the international position of Serbia.

It was agreed to adopt only the principles for negotiations in the Serbian Parliament, while the concrete proposal for autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija is not envisaged for adoption in Parliament. Upon the completion of negotiations, this proposal will be transformed into a law on essential autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija and then adopted in the Serbian Parliament, Dacic said.

He explained that the basic principles for the negotiations with Pristina have several fundamental points: Serbia will not recognise the independence of Kosovo, the talks will focus on the status of the Serbian community in Kosovo-Metohija, the negotiations process should be followed by progress in the European integration, Serbia will demand respect for the agreements reached so far and will strive towards a comprehensive solution.

The resolution should be submitted before Serbian MPs on 11 January and Serbia will not depart from these basic principles in the negotiations. Serbia may present its view of a temporary solution which does not envisage a final solution to the status of Kosovo-Metohija, Dacic underlined.

Speaking about the proposal of the Office of the Serbian President, Dacic said that generally that is the most positive document on Kosovo-Metohija that Serbia proposed in the last decade.

The entire state leadership believes that it would be best to go for a comprehensive solution to Kosovo-Metohija, however, that cannot fit with some other important goals, Dacic added.

He noted that it is obvious that the dynamics of the European integration imposes that the date for start of negotiations with Serbia be set in March 2013 and by that time the dynamics of the talks on Kosovo-Metohija will surely not allow for everything that is proposed in the document to be implemented.

The Prime Minister concluded that it is necessary to have a more flexible approach in order not to get into a situation where negotiations with the EU would be broken off, as well as those with Pristina, adding that it is necessary that Serbia goes step by step in achieving its goals.