Serbian President Slammed for 'Civil War' Comment

Nikolic's comment, sparked by alleged new demands placed on Serbia by the EU over Kosovo, was inflammatory and "very harmful" for Serbian society, said Aleksandar Popov, from Centre for Regionalism NGO.

"Those words were too strong and it was very irresponsible to make such statements especially when you hold the position of president," Popov said.

"Nikolic has often made statements that deviate from the official government policy, but this is something completely unacceptable," he added.

Nikolic told a group of German journalists in Belgrade on October 15 that recognition of Kosovo's independence by Serbian officials would cause a civil war in the country.

"I am convinced of that," Belgrade-based Fonet news agency quoted Nikolic as saying.

Dragan Popovic, from the Policy Centre think-tank in Belgrade, also said that Nikolic had gone too far.

"Nikolic has always made strong statements regarding Kosovo. But now he mentioned the possibility of civil war. It is not naivety and the whole political elite and the rest of the elite in Serbia should react to that statement," Popovic said.

However, no representatives of political parties have reacted to Nikolic's comment so far.

His statement came after senior Serbian officials said last week that the EU and especially Germany had set unacceptable conditions for Serbia over Kosovo as a precondition for further European integration.

Marko Djuric, chief of the Serbian government's office for Kosovo, told TV B92 on October 14 that while Germany had not urged Serbia to officially recognise Kosovo as an independent state, it had introduced some conditions that Belgrade regards as amounting to informal recognition of Pristina's independence.

However, German...