Kosovo has a future in the European Union only as a Serbian province, Serbian president Boris Tadić said in a interview with local channel B92, adding that it was Serbia's responsibility to turn Kosovo into a European region, Dnevnik daily reported on January 3 2009.

Kosovo declared independence on February 17 2008 and it has been recognised by 50 countries, among which the United States and most European Union members.

Serbia's president has been quoted as saying that all nurtured illusions of Albanian-dominated Kosovo becoming a respected state formation, a civilised entity, where people lived freely regardless of their ethnic background, have long vanished. Yet Tadić has also said that chances for further negotiations with Kosovo concerning its status have increased.

Elsewhere, Serbian politicians have voiced out on the country's position on the Kosovo question, stating that recognising it would be too high a price to pay as a condition for further accession talks.

Serbian prime minister Mirko Cvetković has said that Serbia would like to submit its membership candidacy during the first six months of 2009, the year in which the Czech Republic holds the rotating EU presidency.

Recently, Tadić expressed concerns that the global economic crisis might freeze further EU enlargement and Serbia would have to wait for its probable accession, Dnevnik said.