Tadic Warns Kosovo Serbs Against Extremists

Serbia’s President on Thursday warned that Serb extremists in Kosovo could “destroy everything that Serbia has done in previous years”.

Serbs in northern Kosovo would be well advised “to control the extremists who would like to continue warfare and stop Serbia’s EU integration process,” he said.
 
On December 9, Brussels delayed a decision on whether to to grant Serbia candidate status until spring 2012.
 
In March EU foreign ministers are to decide whether Serbia has achieved progress in implementing existing agreements with Kosovo. These include border management, regional cooperation and allowing NATO peacekeepers in KFOR to fulfill their tasks in Kosovo.

Austria, together with Germany, had voiced the strongest objections to granting Serbia candidate status after  Kosovo Serbs and KFOR troops clashed recently at roadblocks erected near the Kosovo-Serbia border.

Serbs in the north of Kosovo have been protesting since July over the Pristina’s deployment of officials at border posts. Clashes started after KFOR peacekeepers moved in to remove some of the roadblocks.

Serbia recently started playing down its earlier support for the Serb protesters in Kosovo but the about-turn clearly came too late to change minds in Brussels.