Serbia defiant over Kosovo as pressure mounts for reconciliation

Mar 3, 2010, 11:44 GMT

Belgrade - Serbia's foreign minister was defiant in the face of Western pressure Wednesday, saying in an interview that his country will not reconcile itself to the loss of the breakaway province of Kosovo.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner visited Belgrade this week with a message that Belgrade must reconcile itself to the loss of Kosovo and begin resolving common problems, even if it refuses to recognize the territory diplomatically.

The message sent by other diplomatic channels was more explicit - Serbia must begin treating Kosovo as a neighbour or risk being blocked in its already troubled path to European Union membership.

Though big Western powers - the United States and most of the EU nations - recognized Kosovo quickly after it declared independence from Serbia two years ago, Belgrade continues to insist that the secession is illegal and has tried to renew negotiations on the status of what it considers its province.

Jeremic returned to the question of Kosovo's status in his Wednesday interview.

'Pristina is not showing any interest regarding the search for a compromise solution for the status of Kosovo,' Jeremic told Wednesday's edition of the daily Blic.

'I do not expect (Kosovo) to be willing for (talks) until the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issues its opinion, but I believe after that they will have no choice,' he said.

Belgrade continues to count on a ruling on its petition against the legality of Kosovo's secession at the ICJ, even though the verdict will be a non-binding opinion and even though the West stressed that Kosovo will not return to Serbia's rule.

Jeremic also said that Kosovo can be represented only by the UN in international conferences.

Because of Serbia's refusal to recognize Kosovo's independence and its boycott of events that Kosovo's leaders attend, Serbian politicians have recently missed some important international events.

For example, Serbian President Boris Tadic was the only regional leader who did not attend the inauguration of the new Croatian president, Ivo Josipovic, last month.

Now Serbia is set to boycott the summit of EU and Balkan leaders in Slovenia on March 20 if Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, is invited.

The diplomatic row has prevented resolution of ethnic tensions in Kosovo itself, divided into the Albanian south and Serb north. Serbs in Kosovo have resisted an EU-backed plan to integrate them into Kosovo's system of authority.