Kosovo rejects EU idea mine should be part of Serbia talks

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Kosovo’s government has rejected suggestions from a European Union official that a major mining complex should be part of the negotiations with Serbia to normalize ties.

A Kosovo government statement Tuesday said that an EU spokeswoman’s remarks to Serb state news agency Tanjug that the Trepca complex should be included in the talks are “unprecedented, unacceptable and thus violating the sovereignty of the state of Kosovo.”

The government said it was a “false issue that clearly aims at Kosovo division.”

Trepca, with Europe’s largest lead-zinc and silver ore mine, is 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital Pristina, where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives.

Brussels initiated a dialogue in 2011 to normalize Kosovo-Serbia ties. Serbia doesn’t accept Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence by its former province.