Dacic: Dirty games, Pristina wants ultimatums

First PM and Foreign Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic said this on RTS on Thursday night, adding that Pristina's tactic is to "deteriorate" the situation in order to force some decision through, such as EU's visa liberalization (for residents of Kosovo).

"They are counting on bartering with this. These are low-manner games that are seriously threatening the whole region. As (president of Serbia, Aleksandar) Vucic, has said, we have a series of incidents that always, as a rule, happen before the dialogue is held," Dacic noted, on the day Vucic was meeting in Brussels with Hashim Thaci.

Asked if it was realistic to expected a comprehensive legally binding agreement by the end of May next year, i.e., before the mandate of the European Commission and Federica Mogherini expire - the minister assessed that a comprehensive legally binding agreement - "if it's going down this road, will not reach even the first point! - because Pristina is sabotaging the dialogue.

"First, they did not implement what they signed in the Brussels agreement, which was a prerequisite for various other mechanisms that were needed to be formed in KiM (Kosovo and Metohija), including the energy agreement. They are now tying this issue to some new packages - 'if you accept us in the UN, we will form the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO)'. That won't happen. They are counting on Serbia being weak and crumbling under ultimatums in order to have a certain perspective on the European road that is very important to us," Dacic said.

According to him, Belgrade finds it most important to, above all, reach a permanent settlement for KiM in a proper way, as this is important for the stability and peace of the entire region.

The head of the Serbian...