It
could become clear as soon as this Monday what the EU really is
demanding from Serbia, and whether it finds acceptable Belgrade's
proposal for an association of Serb municipalities in Kosovo and
Metohija to have executive powers.
Dačić told Belgrade's
Večernje Novosti daily that after the meeting on Monday at the seat of
the EU things might become clearer – whether it is possible to find a
solution for the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija.
"We
cannot accept anything that does not provide the functioning and
survival of the Serbs and the Serb community in Kosovo. Priština rejects
our proposal for a union of Serb municipalities, but we will not accept
anything below that. We do not agree that the Serb community only gains
the right to organize folk performances and issue newsletters. We
insist on executive powers and will tell this completely clearly to
officials in Brussels," he was quoted as saying.
Dačić also
assured that Serbia "will not give up its policy and the compromise
solution that it is offering" in exchange for being given a date for the
start of EU membership negotiations.
"The moment has come for
us to talk with our European partners openly and honestly about the
continuation of our European integrations as well. Everyone needs to be
clear that Serbia will not change its positions in order to get a start
date for EU negotiations in the summer. That in no way means that we are
giving up on the European path of Serbia. Serbia absolutely deserves a
date," he stressed.
Director of the Government Office for
Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin told the newspaper that the
composition of the delegation that is traveling to Brussels "shows the
seriousness of the country to find the best solution for the southern
Serbian province":
"If the EU wants a peaceful region, it needs
to listen to what Serbia has to say. We have sent the highest-ranking
delegation in the history of the EU to discuss only one issue, and it
shows how much we are willing to talk and find the best possible
solution. Serbia cannot go against its Constitution, laws, and citizens.
We cannot give that which is not ours. Kosovo and Metohija, the
Constitution and the citizens of Serbia are not ours, or someone's
property – instead, all of us are that," he was quoted.
Vulin
added that he hoped the international community would understand that
the region will be peaceful only if Serbia and the Serbs in Kosovo and
Metohija accept the solution that is offered to them.
He noted that Serbia, "if it were not Serbia", would have joined the EU a long time ago, "considering how much it has done":
"Everything the EU asked of other countries we have long since
fulfilled, not for the sake of the EU, but for our own sake. Many EU
member states are in worse economic and political shape than Serbia and
less stable. But since we are Serbia, other rules apply, and the only
question is how for long we will take that," he said.
Chairman
of the Parliament Committee on Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun also
spoke for Večernje Novosti to say that he expected Catherine Ashton to
try to exert additional pressure on the Serbian delegation to accept a
compromise in the dialogue with Priština, which would not be acceptable
to the Serbs in the province.
"We cannot go below what is
defined in the parliamentary resolution and the platform adopted by the
Serbian government. It would not be lawful or acceptable for the Serb
people in Kosovo and Metohija. I think that after this meeting, Ashton
and EU's administration should commit to applying strong pressure on
Priština to accept a compromise, because obviously (the negotiations)
got stuck on Priština's side," Drecun said.
(Beta/Frontal)
