Serbia Urges EU, NATO Missions to Discuss Kosovo With Belgrade
Serbia urged the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization missions in Kosovo to start talks with the Serbian government to ease tensions and restore dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade.
“Representatives of the international community must remain neutral and must not take sides, which they do by refusing to talk to legitimate representatives of the Republic of Serbia and by blocking food convoys, which can lead to a humanitarian catastrophe,” Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said in an e-mailed statement.
The statement was issued a day after Serbia’s chief negotiator for Kosovo Borislav Stefanovic and Kosovo Minister Goran Bogdanovic held inconclusive talks with EU mediator Robert Cooper, and made no public statements.
Cvetkovic on Saturday urged the United Nations and the EU to keep maintaining peace in Kosovo and resist “provocations” aimed at forcing Serb recognition of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence.
Serbia holds Kosovo responsible for the latest tensions, sparked by Pristina’s decision to impose a trade embargo on Serbian goods on July 25 and station special police at two border crossings in the north to force Serb recognition of Kosovo’s customs stamps. While 90 percent of Kosovo’s population is made up of ethnic Albanians, most people in the northern part are Serbs.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade at gfilipovic@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net
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