Romania, Spain Not Planning To Change Their Position On Kosovo - Serbian Prime Minister

Despite the external pressure, the authorities of Romania and Spain are not going to change their positions on non-recognition of the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said during her visit to Bucharest.

The head of the Serbian government is on a working visit to Romania, where she held a meeting with her Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciuca. After the meeting, journalists asked whether Ciuca had spoken about the pressure on Bucharest to change its position on Kosovo, since Pristina plans to apply for EU candidate status.

"I think that each of us knows that the five EU member states that do not recognize the unilaterally unrecognized independence of Kosovo are constantly under great pressure, because there are other member states that are pulling in the wrong direction so that the EU is not status-neutral, but it is status-neutral," Brnabic said, as quoted as saying by the Tanjug news agency.

"Serbia has heard from partners in Spain, and now in Romania within the last 24 hours, that they do not intend to change their position on Kosovo and Metohija," the Serbian prime minister stated and added that such a position is based on international law and resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council.

Cyprus Defense Minister Charalambos Petrides also told Vechernie Novosti on Monday that his state adheres to a principled position on non-recognition of Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence. Along with Romania, Spain and Cyprus, among EU members the self-proclaimed republic is not recognized by Greece and Slovakia either.