Belgrade and Pristina reached an agreement on electricity and telecommunications

The sixteenth round of dialogue between Belgrade and Priština resulted last night in Brussels in an agreement on electricity and telecommunications, and according to the Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, by fulfilling all obligations, Serbia thus eliminated obstacles to start negotiations with the EU in January, perhaps even earlier.

– Serbia has fulfilled all its obligations foreseen by the decisions of the European Council and we are convinced that there are no more obstacles for starting accession negotiations with the EU, and we expect them to start at the end of January at the latest, maybe even in December – said Dačić to the press after finishing talks with the Kosovo Prime Minister Hašim Tači and the High Representative Catherine Ashton.

According to him, these agreements represent a big step forward both in the European integration process, and in the dialogue with Priština.

And the EU High Representative pointed out in a statement after the meeting that the two prime ministers reached an agreement on these two issues, and the Kosovo Prime Minister also stated the same to the press.

Dačić emphasised that the agreements would not have any consequences for Serbian population in Kosovo for the time being.- Mobile operators will continue to work, and telephone calls between Kosovo and Central Serbia will continue to be tariffed as local calls and not as international calls, and this will remain so until publication of a tender, which can not happen before 2015 – said the Prime Minister.

Kosovo will get an international call prefix in a few years, because it is required by procedure, he added. The situation with electricity supply will not change in the near future, and property issues are set aside for now, said Dačić.

- Everything will stay the same. We tried not to make life harder for our people who are already living in very difficult conditions – he said.

Translation provided by: www.halifax-translation.com