Madrid's concerns regarding the EU integration of the Western Balkans will soon be in front of EU leaders, Vecernje Novosti daily reports.

The European Council will also consider a new enlargement strategy.

The remarks of Spain, which strongly opposes to any kind of indication of statehood in reference to Kosovo on its European path, are likely to shortly find themselves before the heads of state and government of the European Union, the daily said it learned.

European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn said in an interview to Vienna-based daily “Kurir” that 2025 represents a tentative date for the accession of new members to the EU, and Serbia can be part of it only if it swiftly implements decisive reforms and obligatory and permanently normalizes relations toward Kosovo, RTS reports.

Spain strongly support European integration of Serbia, and when it comes to the stance on Kosovo, it is crystal clear based on what was presented in the non-paper, Tanjug news agency was told by the Embassy of Spain in Belgrade.

In general this is the replay to Tanjug’s question sent to the Embassy to comment on Spanish non-paper related to Kosovo and EU strategy, as well as on Serbia’s European integration, Tanjug reported.

According to Ana Brnabic, the European Parliament president has "unequivocally" said that Serbia "will not have to recognize Kosovo in order to join the EU."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, considers the decision of the Spanish Government to exclude Kosovo from the EU enlargement process as logical, adding that according to the European Parliament President, Antonio Tajani, legally binding agreement with Kosovo “does not include recognition,” Tanjug news agency reported.

“There are proposals that our disputes with Albanians are resolved prior to that, I think it is not good to maintain frozen conflict and to leave this issue to our children,” Vucic said, Tanjug reported.

Do the authorities in Pristina slowly back down in negotiations with Serbia? Blic daily wonders today reporting on a statement of Kosovo Foreign Minister, Beghjet Paccoli, who said that Belgrade should not recognize independence of Kosovo, but it should not impede Pristina’s road to the EU. Blic daily assessed this statement as something that gives hope for the future negotiations.

President Aleksandar Vucic says the EU expects from Serbia "a legally binding document with Pristina, after which we could become a member of the EU."

Vucic told reporters on Wednesday that he also heard this from European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, who is visiting Belgrade, and with whom he spoke earlier in the day, and added that they discussed "many issues, including regional stability and the rule of law."

Madrid is not backing down on blocking the EU integration of Kosovo, the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti writes on Thursday.

However, the article continues, Spain will agree to Kosovo in the EU - but only as a region of Serbia.

The position of Madrid, Vecernje Novosti said it learned, is that Kosovo can become a part of the Union only as a separate administration within Serbia. In this sense, the Spanish have sent to top EU officials not only one written objection - as mentioned over the previous days - but several protest documents.

Chairperson of the Serbian Assembly Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun told Tanjug news agency Spain insists on stance of non-recognizing Kosovo.

Commenting on a non-paper, Spain has sent to the European Commission, saying that Kosovo is not a part of the Western Balkans enlargement process, Drecun said Spain does not accept stance that Serbia is blackmailed.

“In fact Spain insists on stance of non-recognizing self-declared state of Kosovo and does not want to allow that it goes out of a status-neutral framework in any format.

Spain has submitted a letter in the form of a non-paper ahead of the adoption of EU's enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans.

According to reports, the goal of the document is to block Kosovo.