Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said in Belgrade yesterday that the abolition of Kosovo's tariffs on goods from Serbia was “a minimum of the minimum" for continuing talks with Pristina.
She added that she did not expect much from the upcoming meeting in Berlin.
Vienna based daily Der Standard argues that the goal of the upcoming regional conference in Berlin on the Western Balkans is to "bury" a plan on the exchange of territory, the portal B92 reports.
"The Chancellor intends to suggest that North of Kosovo receive a special status - this is also based and in the idea of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, which formation was agreed by the Brussels Agreement, but it has not been applied so far," reported Standard.
The Angela Merkel's foreign policy legacy is also in the play in the Kosovo-Serbia conflict and the stability of Europe and the future of the Western ally, believes Bodo Weber.
A senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council, a transatlantic research center based in Berlin, reminds Deutsche Welle (DW) that the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia on a comprehensive agreement, launched in 2012 at the initiative of Chancellor Merkel herself, has seen a major US diplomatic offensive since the beginning of the year.
"You have been destroying and undermining for long enough, there's been enough pillaging, it's time for someone to build and work for the future of Serbia."
President Aleksandar Vucic said this during a large rally in Novi Sad late on Thursday, addressing the opposition.
He wondered "why there is so much bile and hatred among some people who say they are involved in politics, but who want to take power above all by using violent means."
''Political stakeholders from Serbia and Kosovo do not have the courage to implement the Brussels Agreement because they are rightfully scared of their own people. They have to look for a way to establish citizens’ equality and to offer solutions to facilitate their everyday life, rather than locking them up in national corrals. They have nothing to offer for a better future to their own people, but they are using the story of ethnic delimitation to obscure their political incompetence. Germany has had a clear position from the very beginning.
The German ambassador to Serbia Thomas Schieb told N1 morning programme on Thursday that the meeting of the Western Balkans leaders in Berlin was planned at the initiative by Germany and France for quite some time, proving the region had a high priority.
Brussels is informed about the elections in the north of Kosovo, EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic says, but also once again urged a quicker continuation of Belgrade and Pristina dialogue as the best way to resolve all open issues in the region, reports Radio Mitrovica Sever, quoting Belgrade based agency Tanjug.
On that occasion, she emphasized the necessity of a quick continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s Foreign Minister said on Monday the European Union-facilitated Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations would not resume until Kosovo’s import tariffs were in place, the Beta news agency reported.
The dialogue has been on hold since last November after Kosovo introduced the 100 percent import tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and has been refusing to suspend or lift them despite pressure from the international community.
Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic rejects the possibility of resolving the Kosovo issue by the "two Germany" model that was recently mentioned, and in 2007 proposed by German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, reports Serbian media.
Dacic says that the plan, which was recently talked about, cannot be applied because the two Germanys were internationally recognized states before the unification, while this model in the case of Kosovo means to dismantle and divide Serbia.
Although European Commissioner Johannes Hahn yesterday said that he hopes for the soon continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, analysts from Belgrade do not share his optimism, writes Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti.