Dacic: The Czech Republic will not process Kosovo's request

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said today that according to the currently available information, the Czech Republic would not process Kosovo's request for EU membership until the end of its EU presidency, but would only inform the members about its acceptance, Politika reports.

"The Czech Republic received the application, and according to the announcements, as things stand today, at the session that should be held this week, they will only inform about the reception of the application and will not put it further into the procedure," Dacic said in a statement to journalists after the meeting with his Greek colleague Nikos Dendias.

He added that the issue would be dealt with by the next chairman, which was Sweden, which would take over that role from the New Year.

"At the end of the day, a decision on this must be made by consensus, which will not happen at this moment, because there are five countries, including Greece, that had not recognized Kosovo, and bearing in mind the position of Hungary, which, although recognized Kosovo, does not vote for Kosovo at international forums," Dacic said.

He added that Serbia still had a tough fight in the Council of Europe.

"Everything has been moved to next year. Ireland did not want to finish that work during its mandate. Now it's Iceland's turn. We have talks ahead of us. Given that Iceland is holding a Summit of Council of Europe member states, it is not in their interest to stir up various problems. But it is in their interest to move forward to an agreement. That is why we expect that this topic will not be on the agenda soon," Dacic said, Tanjug reports.

He pointed out that Pristina violated both the Brussels and Washington agreements and stressed that Serbia would continue to work with countries that did not recognize the so-called Kosovo to remain with that position, and with those that had recognized it, to change that position in the sense of withdrawing recognition.

He said that he had heard from the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs that their positions on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija would remain principled, which would mean that Greece supported the preservation of the territorial integrity of the sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia.

To Tanjug's question about the announcement by the President of Serbia that the public would soon be informed which countries had withdrawn their recognition of the so-called Kosovo, Dacic said that it would happen at some point.

"What is certain is that there are 27 countries that have withdrawn the recognition of Kosovo; for 18 countries it is known who they are; for nine countries we will see when the decision will be made to announce those countries," Dacic said.