Officials say Germany, Serbia do not agree on Kosovo

Source: B92

BELGRADE -- Serbian officials and experts are still analyzing statements made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to Belgrade.

Angela Merkel and Boris Tadić (FoNet)

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić is satisfied with the fact that Merkel has supported Serbia’s European integration.

On the other hand, the foreign minister points out that Belgrade and Berlin unfortunately do not agree on Kosovo.

He stressed that Serbia and Germany had not managed to reach common ground regarding Kosovo, aside from the fact that they agreed that peace and stability in the province needed to be preserved and that unilateral moves did not help solve the problem.

Merkel said that it was necessary to renew negotiations with Priština, allow EULEX to operate in the entire territory of Kosovo and abolish parallel structure in the north.

“Belgrade is not surprised by the German chancellor’s requests. This could be anticipated from the previous messages we were getting, maybe just the sharpness of the request to abolish the institutions in northern Kosovo is something that was not expected,” Serbian Ambassador to Germany Ivo Visković said.

“The request is something that Serbian authorities absolutely cannot accept at the moment. They have some calculations and I am afraid that one of them that we are giving in to everything because of the candidacy and our wish to join the Union. We have warned them, but unfortunately the German side’s firm positions remain,” he explained.

The ambassador said that he had several times reminded Berlin officials that it had taken 20 years for West Germany to establish some sort of relations with East Germany without recognizing each other, while Serbia was being asked to do that in just two years.

Former Serbian Ambassador to Germany Ognjen Pribićević is not surprised by Merkel's requests either.

“I am afraid that a tough period is ahead of Serbia. A period with such messages from Brussels, London, Washington… I think we will need a lot of diplomatic skills and intelligence to find a solution for these issues, especially when it comes to northern Kosovo,” he pointed out.

“The messages came from a position high enough that they can be considered EU’s unofficial stance on Kosovo and setting the EU or Kosovo condition for Serbia,” said Political Science Faculty professor Predrag Simić.

“Merkel’s statements are a clear sign that Europe expects Ahtisaari’s plan to be implemented in Kosovo and that Serbia is now facing a dilemma – to continue the policy of not recognizing Kosovo or change the policy if we want to join the European Union,” the professor stressed.