Progress made, dialogue to continue on April 2

Belgrade and Pristina are close to a solution, Ashton said after the seventh round of the Brussels dialogue between Prime Ministers Dacic and Taci, but no one of the participants specified to which elements of the dialogue the progress refers. After 12 hours of talks, Ashton commended Dacic and Taci's constructiveness, adding that both parties should hold necessary consultations before eventually reaching an agreement. Prime Minister Dacic said that certain progress was made in the latest round of the talks with Pristina, but that he could not say the two sides are either close or far from an agreement at the moment. "As time goes by, the optimism for finding a solution could grow bigger," Dacic told the first joint press conference with Taci and Ashton. Serbia wants an agreement for the sake of the stability of the entire region and the benefit of the people, and not for the sake of getting a start date for the accession talks with the EU, he stressed. "We advocate a comprehensive and long-term solution, and a lot of effort and respect for the interest of both sides is required to reach that solution. I cannot say we are either close or far from an agreement, because the opinion on where we are changes from one moment to the next," Dacic remarked. Pointing out that the joint news conference was held at his initiative, in order for the two parties not to have different versions on Wednesday's talks or hide something from their citizens, Dacic added that the dialogue has so far yielded such a relationship that agreements are respected and that the issues which nobody tried to solve are being resolved. "Serbia does not want to buy time, and it does not want to play any games either with the EU or with Pristina's representatives. We do not have any more time, not because of the date, but because we have to resolve the issues in order for our people and our country to live as the rest of the world," Dacic said. He added that, for the first time in history of resolving the Kosovo issue, the participants in the dialogue are not faced with ultimatums, but rather encouraged to reach a compromise on their own, which he said is not easy, because people in the Balkans are not inclined to compromise. Taci said that the talks were constructive and that they are searching for a solution by which northern Kosovo would be "integrated" and relations between Belgrade and Pristina normalized. The meeting passed off in a constructive and positive atmosphere. I confirm that we have made certain progress, but I cannot confirm whether we are close or far from an agreement, but at least we are heading in the right direction, and I expect that we will reach a solution on normalization of the situation eventually, primarily in northern (Kosovska) Mitrovica, Taci said. He added that the two parties have spent a century being hostile to each other and in conflict, but voiced hope that a new chapter will be opened and that the future will be characterized by neighborly relations. Taci stressed that the progress made in the past six months used to be inconceivable.