At the session of the UN Security Council, Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has stated that Belgrade is ready for the dialog on Kosmet on a high level. At the same time, he opposed the implementation of any solutions without the agreement of the UN Security Council, such as the announcement from the International Steering Group about the implementation of Martti Ahtisaari’s plan.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has stated that the new authorities in Serbia intend to realize all hitherto attained agreements with Pristina, while insisting on Pristina doing the same. Although the technical dialog should be continued, it is not enough, and Serbia is ready for the dialog on a high level, because the talks on unsolved issued cannot be avoided, Dacic said. The Prime Minister has stressed that Serbia stays committed to the process that would lead to the lasting reconcilement between the Serbs and Albanians. Dacic has repeated that Serbia will never, under any circumstances, directly or indirectly recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosmet, because according to him, it was not the result of mutual consensus.
Our country will always be united in regards of this key subject, underlined Dacic. According to him, Serbia plans to continue defending its constitutional order by means of peaceful devices that it has on disposal, as a democratic state and a member of the UN. The Prime Minister has added, however, that both sides should be required to demonstrate political will for compromise. It cannot be Belgrade giving all the time and Pristina taking, because such approach will never lead to a legitimate and sustainable agreement, Dacic emphasized. In his words, the Serbian Government is ready to get involved on all levels, in order to attain the mutually acceptable, all-encompassing solution for the final status of Kosmet. While thanking the members of the UN that have not recognized the unilateral independence of Kosovo, Dacic has reminded that the Security Council has not approved any solutions for the status of the Province, nor have the participants accepted any thorough solutions. It is therefore the stance of Serbia that Kosmet cannot join any international organizations, where the membership is a privilege of sovereign countries only.
In comment to insufficiently defined reconfiguration of EULEX, the Prime Minister has presented the position of Serbia that better engagement of that mission is needed, rather than its contraction. He has concluded that if the EU mission does not have enough capacity, the alternative would be to have UNMIK consider its own restructuring and larger presence.
Speaking of the prohibited use of Serbian car plates by Pristina authorities, Dacic has quoted the European NGO Diadikasia, whose report has found out there is a formula according to which certain letter combinations are assigned to members of the Serb community, as well as an unnamed Kosovo official who had said it was a public secret that Serb vehicles are marked differently. Seven decades after the defeat in the Old Continent of the regimes that had been visually marking members of ethnic groups in public places, that practice has been returning to Europe, Dacic warned.
With regards to the investigation into the claims of Dick Marty about the trade in human organs, the Prime Minister has emphasized that in order to establish the truth, all statements in the report of the Council of Europe should be analyzed, as they point to the involvement of high officials of then KLA, who had played decisive roles and were accomplices in many crimes – including the abovementioned heinous deeds. Once again, Serbia is pointing to the fact that the Security Council should play a significant part in this, as it is the body that can provide the mandatory cooperation among the member countries, explained Dacic.
“We are in favor of achieving the lasting peace between the Serbs and Albanians in the Balkans, but in order to make that peace sustainable, it has to be fair. I am not saying that only as the Serbian Prime Minister, but also as a man who was born in Prizren, in Kosmet, in a town that used to be a Serbian capital in the medieval age, and where today there are but 20 or so Serb living. It requires difficult and courageous decisions from both sides, and we are ready to do our share”, concluded Dacic.