Dacic speaks about reasons for talks with Pristina

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Monday that getting a date for the start of EU membership negotiations is not the most fundamental reason why Serbia is in dialogue with Pristina.

(kosovocompromisestuff) Tuesday, February 19, 2013

“Serbia has the interest to join the EU as soon as possible, but this is not the most important reason why we have the talks in Brussels,” Dacic said for Radio Television of Serbia (RTS). The reason behind the talks is the fact that from day to day, Serbia is losing its personality and sovereignty, statehood and friends, or in other words, because various states are recognizing Kosovo under pressure to do so, Dacic said. “All this obviously tells us that we need to reach an agreement. Had we led these dialogues 10 years ago, we would certainly have achieved better results. Today, we first need to see what we can save,” said the Serbian prime minister. Dacic said that the framework for the talks will be the Serbian parliament's resolution and platform which plan the establishment of an association of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo. He stressed that Serbia will not accept the elimination of Serbian institutions in Kosovo, as nobody could replace them there. “We will certainly not going to force the Serbs into Kosovo institutions,” Dacic said on the eve of the fifth round of the political dialogue that he leads with Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci, under the facilitation by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton. The fifth round of talks starts in Brussels tomorrow.