Mihajlovic: Serbia not making dialogue conditional on Trepca

BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic has dismissed claims that Serbia is making the Brussels dialogue conditional on Pristina giving up on nationalising the Trepca mine.

"Serbia is not imposing conditions on anyone - on the contrary, every step that we make demonstrates how much we care and how much we are working on regional ties and cooperation," Mihajlovic told the Belgrade daily Danas.

Mihajlovic was reacting to a statement by the European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia, David McAllister, who said that Serbia should not make the dialogue on normalising Belgrade-Pristina ties conditional on Kosovo giving up on the nationalisation of the Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Combine Trepca.

Mihajlovic, who is also the Serbian minister of construction, transport and infrastructure, told Danas that Serbia, unlike Kosovo, is honouring all agreements.

Serbia is honouring all agreements, but others have to do the same as well, because the attempt that has been made was a back-door attempt of taking away Trepca and its resources, without any prior discussions in Brussels at all, Mihajlovic noted.

Asked by Danas what Serbia would be satisfied with and whether there is an open possibility of dividing Trepca's assets, the Serbian deputy prime minister said that "this is yet to be discussed."

Last week, the government of Kosovo adopted amendments to the law on public enterprises, which should enable it to take over 100 percent of all ownership and management rights in the Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Combine Trepca, and to take over some other companies.

The Serbian government reacted sharply to Pristina's intentions, warning them that it will not allow the seizure of Serbia's public...