FM to German MP: Kosovo won't be given away for EU carrot

Ivica Dacic says Serbia will not trample on its own Constitution and dignity by recognizing the false state of Kosovo for the sake of some EU carrot.

The Serbian foreign minister and first deputy prime minister in this way reacted to a German MP from Chancellor Angela Merkel's party saying in Belgrade on Wednesday that he had a message, and that it was that Serbia "cannot be a part of the EU until it de jure recognizes Kosovo."

Speaking for the Friday edition of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, Dacic noted that what was said "certainly needs to be taken seriously, because he (the German MP) is an official of Merkel's party."

"But, if it really were the case - then what's the point of the dialogue in Brussels, why this exhausting and for us very frustrating process, if the outcome is known in advance?," Dacic asked.

The minister added that the diplomatic battle for Kosovo and Metohija is still ahead.

"The signals coming from some key Western countries, and above all from the United States - who have up to this point firmly held the position that Kosovo's independence is a done deal - give us the right to fight, respecting the reality on the ground, but also the foundations of international law that were brutally violated in 2008 with a single action of the authorities in Pristina," Dacic said, apparently referring to the unilateral declaration of independence, which Serbia rejects.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic commented on the same topic to say that this was about "one German MP, and not the official policy of Germany."