Serbian FM Dacic: Berlin Summit isn’t format for Belgrade – Pristina talks (RTS, Beta, N1)
Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s Foreign Minister, said on Tuesday the mini-summit of the Western Balkans' leaders held in Berlin was not an adequate format for the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations, the Beta news agency reported.
He told Serbia's state RTS television the Berlin meeting had been chosen as a “preparation” for the organisers’ total pressure on Serbia.
“What were they looking for at the meeting,” Dacic asked, adding the Western Balkans’ leaders had nothing to do with the relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
He said that despite “glamorous” statements, the summit produced no spectacular results to enable the resumption of the talks since Pristina did not accept to abolish the 100 percent import taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia introduced last November as Belgrade’s condition for to dialogue to continue.
“Pristina wants to ‘kill’ the dialogue. They don’t need it,” the minister said, adding all Kosovo needed was Serbia’s recognition of its independence.
Dacic added that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron called the meeting in goodwill “to additionally press Pristina to unblock the dialogue,” saying he was sure Kosovo “has someone’s support to remain so stubborn.”
The Minister added it was “a mission impossible for Serbia to recognise Kosovo within such unilateral relations.”
“(The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis) Zvizdic says no border changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they can happen in Serbia,” Dacic said, adding the members of the Kosovo opposition Self-Determination movement who protested outside the meeting venue against the changes of the borders, carried the ‘Greater Albania’ flags.