Nobody is asking us to recognize Kosovo

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Tuesday that nobody was asking Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

Commenting on media reports about Germany laying out 11 requirements to open chapters in accession negotiations with the EU, Vucic stressed that it was nowhere written that Serbia had to recognize Kosovo.

"Serbia is looking to find the most rational solutions to all issues while trying to keep its territorial integrity intact and maintain stability in the region at all times," the prime minister said, pointing out that some EU member states would like to combine Chapter 32 (Financial control) and Chapter 35 (Kosovo), which, in terms of Kosovo, would mean making more unilateral moves or making moves together with the government in Pristina.

"This is nothing new. We have been aware of that and kept doing our job. Let others judge," Vucic told a press conference at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade.

GOVERNMENT EXPECTS ECONOMIC GROWTH NEXT YEAR

Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that the government expects economic growth next year, despite opposite projects from the IMF.

"We expect economic growth next year, which will come as a great surprise in the first year of fiscal consolidation," he told reporters in Belgrade.

According to Vucic, the IMF expects Serbia's economy to stagnate in 2015 and grow by 1.5 percent in 2016.

Vucic expects the Serbian economy to grow by 2 percent in 2016.

He stated that the government was focused on the country's progress and the benefit of the people.

Photo Tanjug Video, camera operator Zoran Colic