Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has said that a demarcation between Serbia and Kosovo had become a necessity, pointing out that “today we are in a situation that we can lose everything.”

Dacic said for the Sunday-edition of the Belgrade-based daily Politika that new demarcation lines should be agreed on in order to peacefully resolve the dispute between Serbia and Kosovo, adding that “the demarcation is necessary because it would in some way acknowledge the Serbian national interests in Kosovo.”

He believes that the demarcation idea can become a reality “if we stand behind it.”

Otherwise, he said, it is realistic to expect not to get anything, and the most we can hope for is that the four municipalities in the north get some form of autonomy within Kosovo.

Dacic said he had not discussed the matter with the ruling coalition partners or Serbian President Boris Tadic.
“They were all against my talking about it in public before,” said the deputy prime minister, who is also the interior minister and leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

When asked whether the demarcation implied recognition of the southern part of Kosovo, Dacic said that since no one accepted his idea, he had not tailored it any further, but added “why should that not be done, if it might satisfy our state and national interests."

Dacic believes the problem of the administrative crossings in the north of Kosovo can be resolved if the Albanian side shows the will for that.

If such will is not present , the EU is there as a mediator to find ways to satisfy the interests of both sides, he added, pointing out that the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings have always been treated differently than all other administrative crossings.

Dacic believes that a forcible removal of the barricades was the tactics of Prime Minister of the temporary Kosovo government Hasim Taci to make the Serbs get into conflict with KFOR and EULEX.

“Serbs should not clash with those who they cannot defeat,” he said, stressing that the Serbs should take care not to get into conflict with KFOR and EULEX.