Tadic: Serbia is "not ready to cross red lines" over Kosovo

Serbian President Boris Tadic says that Serbia will neither implicitly nor explicitly recognize the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence.

(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, April 01, 2010

Tadic was also "asking the international community to respect Serbia's dignity", Beta news agency reported.

He told a news conference in Belgrade that Serbia was "not ready to cross red lines" when it came to Kosovo, and that the country insists on UN principles.

This means that international and regional gatherings cannot be used to implicitly or explicitly recognize non-existent states, the president explained.

"Serbia is turned towards European values and goals, and those also mean respecting the dignity of the Serb nation and the Serb state. For this reason, we expect and demand, from all international factors, to respect the dignity of our state when it comes to Kosovo, and this is something we will not give up on," said Tadic.

Asked about the forthcoming EU-Western Balkans summit in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Tadic said that Serbia was ready to find a practical solution for participation of all those included in the decision making process in the region in order to solve regional problems, "so that we all can move toward EU membership".