Vulin: Serbia to show what it wants with Kosovo
Aleksandar Vulin, the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo, expects Wednesday's first meeting between the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo, Tomislav Nikolic and Atifete Jahjaga, in Brussels will be a symbolic event in which Serbia will show what it wants to do about Kosovo.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Serbia will reiterate the positions outlined in its Platform on Kosovo and state it has no intention of backing down from it, Vulin said in an interview for the daily Vecernje Novosti.
In response to comments that with this meeting Nikolic is trying to show that the Kosovo policy of Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has not won, Vulin said that when it comes to this issue the government is absolutely united.
"If the government wanted one thing and the president another when it comes to resolving the Kosovo issue, we would not be able to get things moving at all. Great strides have been made in the last few months. This meeting will show Serbia is united and, when it comes to Kosovo at least, there are no differences of opinion among top state officials," he said.
Asked about the objections made by Kosovo Serbs to Belgrade's latest moves in connection with Kosovo and their fear that the state will withdraw its institutions from the majority Serb north, Vulin was adamant the government will not agree to this.
"Of course there is a lot of pressure for Serbia to withdraw, to shut down its institutions, but we will not accept this. There can be no life in Kosovo without our institutions," said Vulin.
In order to get a date for accession talks with the EU, Serbia needs to implement all the agreements that have been reached to date, but this does not entail a recognition of Kosovo's independence, he said.
"Normalization of relations means a whole series of things, but definitely not a recognition of independence. No one has asked this of us, and we will never do it," said the head of the Office for Kosovo.
In response to comments that with this meeting Nikolic is trying to show that the Kosovo policy of Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has not won, Vulin said that when it comes to this issue the government is absolutely united.
"If the government wanted one thing and the president another when it comes to resolving the Kosovo issue, we would not be able to get things moving at all. Great strides have been made in the last few months. This meeting will show Serbia is united and, when it comes to Kosovo at least, there are no differences of opinion among top state officials," he said.
Asked about the objections made by Kosovo Serbs to Belgrade's latest moves in connection with Kosovo and their fear that the state will withdraw its institutions from the majority Serb north, Vulin was adamant the government will not agree to this.
"Of course there is a lot of pressure for Serbia to withdraw, to shut down its institutions, but we will not accept this. There can be no life in Kosovo without our institutions," said Vulin.
In order to get a date for accession talks with the EU, Serbia needs to implement all the agreements that have been reached to date, but this does not entail a recognition of Kosovo's independence, he said.
"Normalization of relations means a whole series of things, but definitely not a recognition of independence. No one has asked this of us, and we will never do it," said the head of the Office for Kosovo.
