The head of a Serbian team for dialogue with Kosovo with the mediation of the European Union has assessed as unrealistic the demands of Serb representatives in northern Kosovo as well as their terms for solving the problems which have arisen when barricades were set at the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings, criticising their attitude to the positions of the authorities in Belgrade.
Borislav Stefanovic told Belgrade's daily Vecernje Novosti of Tuesday it was a delusion to think that the KFOR and EULEX international missions in Kosovo would grow tired after several weeks or months or that Pristina would scrap "its aspiration to take over institutions in the north" of Kosovo.
Asked what was the key difference in the positions of Serb representatives in northern Kosovo and Serbian state officials, Stefanovic said the former were setting completely unrealistic demands and terms, for example, to discontinue dialogue and return it under the aegis of the UN Security Council.
"They behave like a party in the negotiations and are making demands of the state. It is legitimate and democratic that our opinions should differ ... But some Serb leaders should realise they came to the president to hear first hand ... the state's position and a proposal that will lead to a solution. Therefore, it is entirely wrong of them to say that they disagree with Serbia's policy and decisions. After all, we are not in two states," Stefanovic was quoted as saying.
He said the Serbs who had waited at the barricades for their representatives to return from the talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic did not expect to hear their political opinion or "disagreement" but "their state's clear proposals to find a solution and overcome this crisis."
"The point is to find a solution for Jarinje and Brnjak through dialogue and to resume negotiations with Pristina under the EU's aegis. Those are the real frameworks in which we can defend our interests. Everything else is unrealistic and uncertain... Perhaps in 1999 we could do what we wanted. Now we must do only what we can."
Stefanovic recently told Belgrade's Politika daily that many of the demands of the Serb representatives in northern Kosovo represented the political positions of the Serbian opposition and that most were unfeasible and politically motivated.
Serbs in northern Kosovo will not let Kosovo's authorities, which they do not recognise, control the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings on the Serbian border, blocking them and the roads leading to them since September.
Last week KFOR and EULEX started removing the barricades and eight KFOR troops and more than 20 local civilians were injured in the process. The situation is now calm but tense. KFOR is occasionally working on the removal of the barricades, meeting resistance from the local population, who are taking turns at the barricades.
It is estimated that 40-50 thousand people live in northern Kosovo, mainly Serbs.
