Jeremic: Whatever ICJ decides, Serbia will not recognize Kosovo

The Serbian government will not recognize Kosovo at any cost, Minister Jeremic said.

This is the first time that the ICJ is giving its opinion on the legality of an act of secession, Jeremic pointed out. The ICJ decision in this case will determine the course of events in future, he said.

Speaking in an interview for the Belgrade daily Blic published on Wednesday, Jeremic said he could not imagine a 21st century in which an act of secession is left to the free will of ethnic communities which maintain that their humn rights are treated in an unsatisfactory manner by the state in which they live.

"That would be a very unstable world. That is why I believe the Court will decide in favor of the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a sovereign democratic state. Anyway, whatever happens, we are bound primarily by the Constitution of Serbia. Nevertheless, we would not have entered into this complex and globalized process had we not concluded that we stand the best prospects to win precisely in the field of international law," Jeremic said.

The Belgrade government will not recognize Kosovo, at any cost, even in the event that the decision is in favor of Pristina, Jeremic pointed out, as long as a democratic order based on the Serbian Constitution is in effect in this country.