"Slovakia could recognize if Serbia signs agreement"

At the same time, Slovakia also that it will support Serbia strongly on its path towards EU membership, the country's former Prime Minister Iveta Radičova has stated.

She said the view of her government, which ran Slovakia until 2012, was that Slovakia would support Serbia by refusing to recognize Kosovo, since it wanted a solution acceptable to both sides, Radicova told the Belgrade-based daily.

Radicova noted she could not speak for the current government, but that she believed there was no reason for Slovakia "not to support both Serbia and Kosovo as two independent countries once their relations have normalized."

Radicova does not think Serbia would be isolated in any way if it abandoned the talks with Pristina, but feels that the intensity of the accession talks would be lower and that they would take longer to complete.

"There would be no direct economic consequences, apart from Serbia perhaps losing an opportunity to benefit from the advantages of EU integration, so it would not be a good decision to refuse an agreement with Pristina," she remarked.

Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has done a lot for the Western Balkans and is preparing to assist Serbia once the talks with the EU begin, she stressed.

For Slovakia to be able to provide that assistance, a solution in the negotiations with Pristina is necessary, because the start of the talks with the EU depend on that, said Radičova, who now teaches at Oxford.

Slovakia is one of five European Union member-states that do not recognize Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo more than five years ago unilaterally declared independence, but Serbia rejected the proclamation.

The two sides have been involved in the EU-mediated, currently stalled, Brussels talks.