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Monday, Apr 8, 2013 5:01 PM UTC

Serbia rejects EU-brokered Kosovo deal

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Serbia rejects EU-brokered Kosovo dealProtesters wave Serbian flags during the protest of Serbian nationalist organization Obraz (Honour) in front of the Government building in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, April 8, 2013. Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic says his government will reject an EU-brokered deal for Kosovo and will ask for more negotiations with ethnic Albanian leaders. The EU has given Serbia until Tuesday to say whether it would relinquish its control of northern Kosovo in exchange for the start of Serbia's EU membership negotiations. Serbia's government says it will give the answer later Monday. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)(Credit: AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia rejected on Monday a European Union-brokered deal for reconciliation with its former province of Kosovo — a defiant move that could jeopardize the Balkan country’s EU membership aspirations and fuel tensions in the region.

The European Union had given Serbia until Tuesday to say whether it would relinquish its effective control over northern Kosovo in exchange for the start of Serbia’s EU membership negotiations.

Even before the government rejection, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic — Serbia’s most powerful governing party leader and the defense minister — said the plan is unacceptable because it does not give more autonomy to minority ethnic Serbs in Kosovo who together with Serbia reject Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.

“The Serbian government cannot accept the proposed principles … because they do not guarantee full security, survival and protection of human rights for the Serbs in Kosovo,” Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said. “Such an agreement could not be implemented and would not lead to a lasting and sustainable solution.”

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s top diplomat, said after the eighth round of talks between Serbian and Kosovo officials last week in Brussels that she wanted a response from both sides and that the bloc’s mediation was over.

Despite warnings that there will be no more EU-sponsored negotiations under her mediation, Vucic and the government called for more talks with rival ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

“If there is a negative answer from (the EU), that would be bad news for Serbia, Kosovo and the EU,” Vucic said. “If that happens, we would have to start thinking of what to do next.”

“We don’t want Serbia isolated from the world, but we have to protect our interests,” Vucic said. “It is highly important that we reach an agreement.”

The rejection of the proposal could be a severe blow for Serbia’s EU membership aspirations — including millions of dollars of promised accession funds — and would lead to more tensions in the Balkans, which is still reeling from the bloody wars of the 1990s when Serbia tried to prevent the breakup of the former Yugoslav federation by force.

While some 90 countries — including the United States and most EU nations — have recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, it has been rejected by Serbia and its Slavic ally Russia.

The most contentious issue in the talks was the status of northern Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs dominate the population and refuse to accept the authority of the ethnic Albanian-controlled government in Pristina. Germany has made giving up control of Kosovo’s north the key condition for the start of Serbia’s EU accession negotiations.

The stumbling block in the talks was a Serbian demand that ethnic Serbs, who represent about 10 percent of Kosovo’s 2 million people, have their own judiciary and police force. But Kosovo officials have rejected that, saying it would be tantamount to a division of Kosovo into two separate entities.

In Serbia, there are increasing calls among nationalists that Serbia should turn to its ally Russia instead of becoming an EU member. There also are suggestions from the extremists that Serbia should use force to reoccupy Kosovo, which it surrendered after a three-month NATO bombing campaign that pushed out its troops in 1999.

Vucic, a former ultranationalist turned moderate, said a military solution is out of the question.

“I’m hearing some ‘heroes’ who were never brave who are giving us lessons on how we should stroll into Pristina,” he said. “They should not tell us what our decisions should be.”

Several hundred far-right supporters demonstrated in front of the government headquarters in Belgrade during the Cabinet session, demanding that no deal is signed with the EU and ethnic Albanians.

___

Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed to this report.

Dusan Stojanovic

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