Tadic: Pristina wants to change the situation in the field through unilateral actions

Serbian President Boris Tadic assessed in Belgrade that it is obviously part of the strategy of the Pristina authorities to change the situation in the field through unilateral moves and pointed that this is why the special unit ROSU took an action in the north of Kosovo in late July.

Serbia wants free flow of goods and services, but it wants to preserve its integrity, Tadic said in talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is satisfied with the fact that Merkel has supported Serbia's European integration.
On the other hand, the foreign minister points out that Belgrade and Berlin unfortunately do not agree on Kosovo.

He stressed that Serbia and Germany had not managed to reach common ground regarding Kosovo, aside from the fact that they agreed that peace and stability in the province needed to be preserved and that unilateral moves did not help solve the problem.

Merkel said that it was necessary to renew negotiations with Pristina, allow EULEX to operate in the entire territory of Kosovo and abolish parallel structure in the north.

"Belgrade is not surprised by the German chancellor's requests. This could be anticipated from the previous messages we were getting, maybe just the sharpness of the request to abolish the institutions in northern Kosovo is something that was not expected," Serbian Ambassador to Germany Ivo Viskovic said.

"The request is something that Serbian authorities absolutely cannot accept at the moment. They have some calculations and I am afraid that one of them that we are giving in to everything because of the candidacy and our wish to join the Union. We have warned them, but unfortunately the German side's firm positions remain," he explained.

The ambassador said that he had several times reminded Berlin officials that it had taken 20 years for West Germany to establish some sort of relations with East Germany without recognizing each other, while Serbia was being asked to do that in just two years.

Former Serbian Ambassador to Germany Ognjen Pribicevic is not surprised by Merkel's requests either.

"I am afraid that a tough period is ahead of Serbia. A period with such messages from Brussels, London, Washington... I think we will need a lot of diplomatic skills and intelligence to find a solution for these issues, especially when it comes to northern Kosovo," he pointed out.