Dacic: It Is a Question whether Solving Kosovo Issue Is More Favorable for Serbia with EU or U.S. Mediation

Ivica Dacic (BETAPHOTO/Foreign Ministry/Ognjen Stevanovic)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has stated that it is a big question whether the solving of the Kosovo issue is more favorable for Serbia with the EU or U.S. mediation.

“It seems to me that it is easier to discuss this [matter] with the U.S. administration, in view of the position of Germany and other EU countries that everything should be left as it is, in addition to Serbia recognizing Kosovo’s independence, while the U.S. administration’s more flexible approach takes into account the interests of both peoples,” Dacic told the RTS public service in the evening on Sept. 22.

Dacic added that the “model for finding a political solution” to the Kosovo question are the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords and the Sept. 4 Washington agreement between Serbia and Kosovo on normalizing economic relations.

“The model shows that it is necessary to exert pressure on the side not willing to implement a fair solution. This is what the EU lacks – an iron fist. The EU has for long been offering what Washington offered now, but what did it request in return? They cannot force Pristina to implement what had been agreed in 2013,” Dacic pointed out.

The minister also said that the goal should be the acceptance of “a just solution,” because a political problem cannot be solved with economic measures only.