"A wish to enter the European Union is a dream of every serious politician in Serbia, but not at any cost," Nikolic was quoted as saying in a press release issued by his office after his talks with the Slovenian MEP Kacin.

Kacin was quoted as welcoming the Serbian authorities' efforts to counter crime and corruption.

As for Kosovo, President Nikolic said that it remained unclear what the previous government had signed during the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels. He went on to say that Serbia's nonattendance of regional gatherings was detrimental to his country.

Kacin was cited as saying that multi-ethnicity and the rule of law were in the focus of the activities of European institutions in Kosovo.

After the meeting, Kacin told the press that it was up to Serbia to organise itself as a law-based state and that Europe had no intention of interfering into the country's internal affairs.

According to him, the EU also expects Serbia to solve 24 cases of disputable privatisation. A few months ago, the European parliament adopted a resolution in which it requested the clarification of those cases. The local prosecution has started investigating 18 of them.