Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday that Serbia will not be able to enter the European Union without finding a solution to Kosovo and according to him this is the main condition.
He made these comments at a press conference in Belgrade after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.Chancellor Kurz said it is important that talks between Belgrade and Pristina not only to continue but also to end successfully.
"We have a unique opportunity now to leave History in History and move forward in a successful future. People in Serbia need to understand that Serbia can enter the European Union only if Belgrade and Pristina find a solution. This is the main condition for Serbia to join the European Union," Mr Kurz said.
Whereas, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that any solution for Kosovo should be good for both Serbs and Albanians.
"What is important to us is that Serbia cannot and should not be humiliated, and that is one side, the Albanian side can not take everything and the Serb side nothing. Those who are prepared to take this into account and who are willing to seek such a solution will always have a partner here in Belgrade," President Vucic said, underlining that both sides, Serbia and Kosovo are far from reaching an agreement.
Meanwhile President Vucic criticized all countries that have voiced against any agreement affecting border changes and fearing that borders touching could foster similar movements in other parts of the region, which has not yet recovered from the bloody wars of the last century.
"We are miles away from any solution. This solution should be found between Serbs and Albanians and I would like to ask all those who are saying that we can open some sort of Pandora's box now - why have you recognized Kosovo's independence and opened Pandora's box in 2008?" said Vucic.
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic demanded international support during the Summer for a normalization agreement between the two countries, including the possibility of borders exchange.
These ideas prompted numerous reactions in Kosovo and Serbia, but also on the international stage, between those who would accept an agreement reached between the parties and those who opposed it, e.g. Germany was the most proactive against such ideas.
President Thaçi has repeated for months that he is committed to border correction, which means joining the Presevo valley, an Albanian-majority region in southern Serbia with Kosovo.
Kosovo and Serbia are involved in a process of negotiating the normalization of relations that is a condition for EU integration, which also mediates the talks. But although it was said that autumn could mark a period of intense meetings between the two sides, the September meeting was unsuccessful and for now there is no movement from Brussels.
The two presidents claim that they are far from any agreement and have refused to say whether they have already put into the paper ideas that a part of the north of Kosovo should be exchanged with a part of the Presevo valley.