The EU Rapporteur for Serbia and head of the Commission for Foreign Policies at the European Parliament, David McAllister, told German media that Serbia cannot become an EU member without admitting crimes committed in Kosovo and without normalization of the relations with Kosovo.

“Serbia has to admit committed crimes during the conflict with Kosovo,” Mc Allister told Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung. “Another very important duty for Serbia is complete normalization of the relations with Kosovo. Without doing this, Serbia’s way for EU membership is very far,” he said.

Suedwesstpresse also reports in an article on Balkans that the situation in the region is quite tensioned, and that it would have escalated long time ago if it wasn’t for the presence of NATO and the EU in the Balkans. This paper also notes that “it would have been a very constructive act if Serbia recognized the independence of Kosovo, ten years after the declaration of independence.”

“Serbia cannot become member of the European Union as long as it does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state. According to this paper, the dialogue has been slumbering for ten years now. Further, the paper criticizes the position of the European Union “for always supporting the stronger ones.   It would have been much more beneficial if European politicians did not support “the strong people” in Balkans, because this only strengthens their nationalism,” writes this paper.