Vucic: It is clear Community must be formed, but not based on Pristina's principles

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday it was now completely clear a Community of Serb Municipalities must be formed in Kosovo-Metohija, but noted that he did not know how Pristina intended to form it in line with a decision by its constitutional court.

Responding to questions from reporters, Vucic said Pristina's insistence on compliance with the constitution of the so-called Kosovo rendered discussions pointless.

"That raises the question of why we had negotiations at all and what those negotiations were about. We had those negotiations for the very reason we know this cannot be achieved in line with the legal acts and the legislations of one, other or a third party," Vucic said.

He said he had told US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet it was unclear how Pristina intended to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities based on those principles.

"Unfortunately, on the same day he went to Vienna, (Pristina's PM) Albin Kurti said he is not interested in forming a community on ethnic grounds, then he said he is not pleased with the French-German plan, only to say yesterday that he fully accepts that proposal, which we all knew from the start because it is based on what they (Pristina) want, and he accepted everything just to avoid a previous commitment - the Community of Serb Municipalities," Vucic said.

He said negotiations would be tough and complicated and that Serbia neither had allies in the talks, nor much choice.

He noted that, for Serbia, any form of formal or informal recognition of the so-called Kosovo or its UN membership were red lines for Serbia.

"We do not want to talk about that, and that is an integral part of the plan. Everything else is great. We are not saying we will accept that, but we can talk, to see what Serbia is offering, what someone else is offering and what we can expect, because there are things we can talk about," Vucic said.