Tomislav Nikolic has told the Russian Interfax agency that the most important condition set before Serbia for joining the EU will be "to recognize Kosovo."

But the president added that this was a condition "that only slaves could accept."

Nikolic then stressed that Serbia "will not do that" because no nation in the world would accept such a condition.

Kosovo is Serbia's southern province where ethnic Albanians in 2008 unilaterally declared independence - a move that Serbia considers a violation of its territorial integrity.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday that the EU should say why no negotiating chapters in Serbia's membership negotiations have yet been opened.

Ahead of his meeting with visiting EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn, Vucic said they will discuss "what Serbia has done so far," and added he "noticed everything is a matter of the dialogue with Pristina."

The prime minister stressed that he and Hahn will discuss "the concrete reasons why chapters have not been opened," and added this was "certainly not because of the Brussels agreement":

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic hopes that EU countries will recognize the efforts Serbia is investing in the dialogue with Pristina.

He made this statement in Belgrade on Wednesday as he received Gianni Pittella, president of the group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (EP).

According to the Serbian government, the prime minister "also expressed the hope that EU countries would also recognize other political and economic reform processes and back Serbia's progress on its EU path by opening negotiating chapters."

The Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Murdered Serbs has said that the announced platform for Kosovo "is the last hope for the kidnapped."

The platform should be presented by President Tomislav Nikolic.

The association believes that the document should demand that "Europe and the U.S. order the leaders of the KLA to free kidnapped Serbs."

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday said he "does not know what he can expect" from the announced platform of President Tomislav Nikolic.  

Nikolic said this week that he would send a draft of the platform to Vucic and the government after May 1, the Labor Day holiday.

Vucic added that Nikolic "knows about everything that is asked of Serbia on the road toward the European Union," and that he "does not hide what is talked with the EU," noting that "the topic is always Kosovo."

Most citizens in Kosovo "are disgruntled with the work of Kosovo's key executive, legislative and judicial institutions," Tanjug is quoting a UNDP-USAID poll.

They have "lost trust in media freedom, and youth unemployment is the biggest problem," the survey, co-funded by the UNDP and USAID, dubbed Public Pulse, has shown.

Czech President Milos Zeman says that he personally does not recognize Kosovo as independent and therefore is not sending an ambassador to Pristina.

When a reporter for the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti noted his "well-known position that Kosovo is ruled by a mafia regime financed by drug trafficking," Zeman stated that he "said it many times publicly that Hashim Thaci is a war criminal".

 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.

BRDO -- Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic today "spoke briefly and shook hands" with Kosovo Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci, ahead of a conference in Slovenia.

The encounter occurred regardless of the controversy between Belgrade and Pristina caused by Thaci's intention to attend an NGO's conference in Belgrade.

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo Director Marko Djuric has said that he will visit the province despite the fact Pristina did not officially approve it. "I was informed by the provincial government that it is unable to allow me to visit Gracanica, which was to be organized during today and tomorrow," he said.

"My only message is: See you in Kosovo and Metohija. After all, the republic-level government has seniority over the provincial," Djuric told journalists, in reference to the governments in Belgrade and Pristina.