Serbia "continues to promote stereotypes" on Kosovo - Slovene daily

Commenting on this week's visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to Kosovo, the daily Delo observes on Tuesday [15 February] that Serbia has still not drafted a clear political strategy concerning this ethnically-divided province.

Instead of a strategy, Serbia continues to promote stereotypes; Tadic did the same during his visit by vowing that Belgrade would never accept an independent Kosovo, the daily writes under the headline "Fear gets the better of Tadic".

The Serbian ruling coalition, which places on the right of the political spectrum, behaves like the Kosovo Albanians, who account for nine tenths of the province's population, were non-existent.

By reiterating that "Kosovo will never be independent", Tadic did not only stir Albanian extremists but also the Kosovo moderate politicians who have been hinting at the Belgrade authorities for a while that a time has come for launching talks on the province's status.

The refusal to negotiate meanwhile takes its toll on all the people in the province, the Albanians as well as non-Albanians. As the economy continues to deteriorate to become worse than before 1999, the black market and the drug and human trafficking flourish, the daily concludes.