The Serbian state leadership confirmed it has reached full consent and unity when it comes to its policy towards Kosovo, Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said on Thursday, while at the same time the Serbian Orthodox Church opposed the state policy towards Kosovo, asking the government and the president to reject the proposal on the joint management of borders together with the authorities in Pristina.
Dacic told the media after he returned from Brussels on Wednesday evening and informed top state officials of the new negotiations round with Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, held under the auspices of the European Union High Representative fort the Common Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, that the political leadership had reached a consensus. The meeting held in the Serbian government headquarters was attended by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Parliament Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic and head of the government office for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin.
Later today, the Serbian state leadership will inform the presidents of Serb-populated municipalities from northern Kosovo about the dialogue with Pristina.
Commenting on protests of Serbs from northern Kosovo and the situation between Serbia and Kosovo, Prime Minister Dacic told Serbian Radio Television that the existing situation at crossings with Kosovo would not change, saying that there was no reason for Serbs to protest. Dacic said that Serbia would immediately suspend the agreement if the guarantees he received in Brussels concerning the border crossings regime were not respected.
Commenting on his meeting with Kosovo PM Thaci, Dacic said "there is nothing new", given that the agreement on Integrated Border/Boundary Management was signed in February and the new Serbian government said it would respect everything the former government had signed.
At the same time, the media in Belgrade brought headlines that the Serbian Orthodox Church had harshly opposed the state leadership's policy towards Kosovo, demanding that they suspend the implementation of joint border management and demanding that political authorities "stop taking part in the suicide of the country."
Serbia and Kosovo are differently interpreting the agreement on Integrated Border/Boundary Management (IBM). Kosovo claims that the border between Kosovo and Serbia would be "like any other international border", while Serbia insists that those will be administrative crossings. The European Union, which facilitates the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, enabled both sides to interpret the agreement the way they like by introducing the term "Integrated Border/Boundary Management" - the word "border" for Kosovars and the word "boundary" (administrative crossing) for Serbians.
