05 September 2008 Belgrade _ "The moment has come for Serbia to look forward to the future, not just backwards," Germany's Foreign Minister told his Belgrade counterpart during a trip to Berlin.
Germany's chief diplomat Frank-Walter Steinmeier
said it was also time to reward the pro-European forces in Serbia for the “courage”,
they had shown in the election campaign and during talks on forming a new
government.
However, Steinmeier told Serbia's Vuk Jeremic that his country would not back
Belgrade's bid to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice, on
the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence.
"Germany will prepare its stand on this over the next few weeks since we
have recognised an independent Kosovo, and we would not have done that had we
believed that decision was not in line with international law," Steinmeier
told journalists, after the meeting in Berlin.
Jeremic argued that Serbia’s move was not meant as a procedure against any
country, and especially not against those countries Serbia wished to move
closer to.
Last month, Serbia’s authorities themselves admitted that even if the International
Court of Justice gave a view in their favour, the decision would bear only moral
weight. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/12398
Meanwhile, EU officials have reiterated that the issue of Kosovo's final status
has no link to Serbia’s bid to build closer ties with the bloc in any way.