Serbian President Boris Tadic denied on Friday that a demand not to hold Serbian elections in Kosovo was one of the requirements for Serbia to be given a date for the start of European Union accession talks.
The requirements are clear, defined and sufficiently transparent, and the European Council is unambiguous about it, Tadic told reporters in Belgrade, adding that some countries did not want Serbia to hold local elections in Kosovo and Metohija "because that's not in keeping with the policy they have in Kosovo."
Serbia protects its legitimate national interests and respects its Constitution, he said. The Serbian Constitution's preamble defines Kosovo as a Serbian province.
Tadic said the elections would be called throughout the country, including Kosovo, but that their holding in Kosovo would depend on circumstances which included security.
The chair of the Serbian parliament's European integration committee, Laslo Varga, said in a newspaper interview on Thursday that the most important requirement for Serbia's being given a date for the accession talks was the abolishment of its institutions in Kosovo, and that Serbia could not hope to get a date before December.
Varga said Serbia would be able to postpone the recognition of Kosovo's independence only until the signing of the Accession Treaty, when it would have to recognise it.
Varga said that if Serbian local elections were not called in north Kosovo when they were called in Serbia, it would mean that Serbia had started meeting the EU's requirements.
Serbian Parliament Speaker Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic said at a session of parliament's committee on Kosovo on Wednesday that she would call the local elections on March 13, when Tadic called a parliamentary election.
She said the local elections would be held only for local councillors whose terms of office had expired, adding that "Kosovo is a constituent part of Serbia and that refers to that province as well."
