Serbian FM: No one can expect Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence

Madrid, May 4 (EFE).- Serbia is committed to normalizing ties with Kosovo amid efforts to join the European Union, but will not to recognize the independence of what it sees as an autonomous Serbian province, foreign minister Nikola Selakovic said in an interview with Efe.

 “If the one is expecting from Serbia just to recognize the so-called Kosovo independence, it is not going to happen,” Selakovic said.

Serbia is committed to the Brussels-sponsored talks with Pristina that began in 2011, he added.

The talks, which have been repeatedly interrupted, will hopefully resume in mid-May in Brussels after the formation of a new government in Kosovo, he added.

 “It is not an easy issue (…) we are strongly believing that the only one way of reaching the solution can be the compromise, but the compromise means that both sides in the process are not going to be completely satisfied and that no one is going to get everything,” he said.

Around 100 countries recognize Kosovo’s unilateral independence, proclaimed in 2008, including the United States and most of the European Union, but not Russia, China or Spain. EFE

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