Claims that European Union or Germany are allegedly requesting from Serbia to recognize Kosovo are completely unfounded replied German Embassy in Belgrade on question whether it is truth that Germany would withdraw disputed amendment of the Chapter 35. Embassy communicated that Germany advocates for chapters 35 and 32 to be the first ones to be opened, by the end of this year, in Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU, and that Germany firmly believes that this will be the case. Politika was also told that Germany didn’t set any new conditions.
When asked whether it is truth that Berlin will withdraw the disputed amendment which, according to Belgrade’s interpretation, indirectly stipulates recognition of Kosovo’s independence, Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic replied that she hopes that Serbia’s arguments will be heard and acknowledged in Brussels. “Adoption of the negotiation platform of the EU for Chapter 35 is a matter of EU’s decision, thus it would be the best if the question whether any amendment would be withdrawn is made to the EU representatives,” said Joksimovic.
“We will always defend interest of our state and our citizens with arguments. We expect that principles presented by the EU are respected, and which refer to the three main stands: that Chapter 35 is not a replacement for the dialogue; that benchmarks in Chapter 35 will follow only what has been agreed so far or what has been left to be implemented from the process of the dialogue; and that new topics, which have not been pre-approved by both sides in the dialogue, are not imposed in the benchmarks,” said Joksimovic, and added that the process of European integration is a dynamic and not the easy one, and implies dialogue and solutions for disputes.
