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Euractiv (2 Februry 2018)

Tajani said it was “important for the Union to see a legally binding agreement reached before admission to the EU and all is clear there”.

He did not use the term “full recognition”, a concept many in Serbia reject outright. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and Belgrade has vowed it would never recognise it.

The Parliament president insisted that the EU wants a resumption of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, stressing that Belgrade is extremely important for the stability of the Balkans.

The EU-mediated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue has been stalled for more than a year. The technical dialogue was due to resume earlier in January but the Serbian team returned from Brussels after the news of the assassination of Oliver Ivanović, a Serb leader of the opposition Freedom, Democracy, Justice civic initiative in Kosovska Mitrovica.

A legally binding agreement with Kosovo, whose independence is not recognised by Belgrade and five EU member states, is the key requisite for Serbia’s EU membership. Serbia is a candidate country and has so far opened 12 of the 35 negotiating chapters.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told a joint press conference with Tajani on 31 January that “Tajani gave no warnings” but spoke the truth.

“The EU expects from Serbia a legally binding agreement with Pristina, after which it may join the Union,” he said.

Vučić admitted that the issue of Kosovo – a sensitive issue for many Serbs, who see it as the cradle of Serbian statehood – was “the hardest part of the work left” for Serbia to do on the road to the EU.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/eu-insists-on-serbia-kosovo-dialogue-normalisation/