Serbian PM Ivica Dačić said it is still not known when the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue will resume and in what form, announcing he will discuss the issue in Brussels, on September 4, in talks with the highest EU officials. It is not clear yet whether Pristina is ready at all to have the dialogue with Belgrade raised to a higher level, i.e. from the technical to the political one, the PM said. More from Suzana Mitić.
Dačić said Belgrade is ready to take part in the dialogue and will represent the stands on Kosmet presented in the exposé on the occasion of the appointment of the new Serbian government. Commenting on media writings on the issue of representation of Kosovo at regional gatherings with a footnote and an asterisk, the PM said the Serbian government would implement all the agreements reached by the previous government in Brussels, but the problem lies in the different interpretations of such agreements. It is important, however, he said, that Kosovo be represented with a footnote and an asterisk, which means it cannot have the same status as Serbia.
As for economic issues, the PM said that the economic growth in Serbia would be lower than the planned one, whereas inflation could be higher. The deficiency in the budget exceeds two billion euros, he said. Through the rest of this year, the government can only work to remedy problems that occurred in the first half the year, he said, but promised that the problems would be overcome.
The PM previously received members of Serbian firefighting and rescue teams, who were recently engaged in putting out fire in the vicinity of the Serbian Hilandar Monastery, on the Holy Mountain (i.e. Mt Athos) in Greece.