I come to Belgrade with the message that Germany will continue to be a sincere and reliable partner to Serbia on its way towards the EU, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier ahead of his visit to Serbia on April 28.

Serbia has taken major steps forward in the past few years - the historic agreement on the normalization of relations with Kosovo, the opening of EU accession talks, the beginning of painful but much needed economic reforms, Steinmeier pointed out in an interview to Tanjug, commenting on Serbia's progress since the new government took power.

According to the German minister, the greatest challenge for our country in years to come will be to stay on that path, with political determination and consistency.

He noted that Serbia and Germany have very close and friendly bilateral ties:

We want to continue this cooperation in the future. We particularly want to continue to be a sincere and reliable partner to Serbia on its path towards the EU. That is an important message of my visit to Belgrade, said Steinmeier.

WE NEED BELGRADE, PRISTINA TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS

Germany and the European partners expect a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and Germany has not made Serbia's admission to the EU conditional on recognition of Kosovo, says German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Germany and the European partners expect a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo in the form of a legally binding agreement, Steinemier said in an interview with Tanjug, pointing out that the EU had made that clear at the very beginning.

The German government has never spoken about international and legal recognition of Kosovo by Serbia as a prerequisite for Belgrade’s admission to EU membership, said Steinmeier.

Steinmeier added that Germany would like to see Chapter 35 (Kosovo) opened at the very beginning of negotiations - as soon as obligations under the agreement on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina are fully implemented - which he said was a long and difficult process.

Despite being so difficult and taking a lot of time to complete, these very tasks must start being dealt with in time instead of being postponed indefinitely, Steinmeier said.