Nikolic:Serb participation to depend on election regulations

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic stated on Monday during the meeting with UNMIK Head Farid Zarif that Serb participation in the early parliamentary elections in Kosovo-Metohija will depend mainly on the regulations according to which the elections would be organised.

Nikolic pointed to the importance and responsibility of the entire UN mission and the OSCE mission in Kosovo-Metohija concerning the course of the electoral process.

He voiced Serbia's stand on the need for OSCE participation in the organisation of the parliamentary elections in Kosovo-Metohija scheduled for June 8, the president's press service released.

Nikolic said that Serbia has a very short deadline to discuss the Serb participation in the elections as the result of the bad decision of the Pristina administration to call early parliamentary elections.

If the Serb community in Kosovo-Metohija believes that acceptance of the Kosovo documents would entail recognition of independence, it is not logical for the Pristina government to insist on this point so hard while at the same time claiming that they have good intentions, the Serbian president said.

In the talks with Zarif, Nikolic recalled that in the previous period, Serbia invested a lot of effort through the talks with the Pristina authorities and achieved even the goals which seemed impossible to reach at first.

Significant results have been achieved but this is not enough, which is why both sides need to invest additional efforts to prevent interruption of the talks, Nikolic said.

Serbia will never recognise the independence of its southern province but it is willing to discuss with Pristina all the topics that could contribute to betterment in the living...