Serbia won’t change position on Kosovo

Serbian President Boris Tadić says that Serbia expects the candidate status for EU membership and, shortly thereafter, the start of accession negotiations.

At the same time, said he, the country “will not change its stance on not recognizing the self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo”.

Resolving the Kosovo issue is too important for both peoples, both Serbs and Albanians, to become a political game of setting pre-conditions for EU membership, Tadić said on Monday eveningn in a lecture entitled “Serbia as a protagonist of regional reconciliation and factor of stability in the Balkans” at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Berlin.

“Serbian citizens want to join the EU and it would be a great loss for both Serbia and the EU if this country were to remain in an eternal accession status,” Tadić said.

Tadić stressed that, before entering the EU, Serbia wants to resolve the Kosovo issue, but that a final decision right now would not equally uphold the interests of both sides.