Head of Belgrade's negotiating team in the dialogue with Pristina Borislav Stefanovic said Friday that Serbia did not give Kosovo in exchange for EU candidate status, nor did it jeopardize the national interest.

"We did not give away Kosovo, nor did we jeopardize the national interest or the Serbian Constitution. The important thing is not only what we gained, but what we did not lose even though we could have," Stefanovic said appearing on Radio Television of Serbia.

He said the opposition was not constructive during the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and rejected their accusations that Serbia exchanged Kosovo for the candidacy.

Stefanovic said the opposition is now in a difficult position, as the policy "both EU and Kosovo" has proven successful.

He noted that Belgrade's intention during the talks on regional representation was to keep Pristina from being represented as a state, but to have it represented asymmetrically, and that it achieved this.

Deputy leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia and former minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic believes, however, that Serbia paid too high a price for the candidacy.

"Everything came down to one condition - Kosovo, while the Copenhagen criteria were thrown aside. The price is too high, even if we had gotten more than just the candidacy," Samardzic said.