Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Tuesday that Belgrade wants to see a de-escalation of the situation in Kosovo.

“Serbia’s goal is to de-escalate the situation on the ground, which the temporary institutions of self-government in Pristina do not want at the moment,” a press release quoted him as saying during a meeting with Axel Schäfer, co-rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Schafer is in Belgrade to meet with Serbian public officials, the opposition and others in preparation a report on Serbia’s progress in fulfilling its obligations as a member state of the Council of Europe (CoE).

Dacic said that Serbia is committed to cooperation with CoE on the basis of respect for the organisation’s values and normative framework.