The preparations of the Serbian leadership to continue the dialog with Pristina, new attempt of the interim authorities in Pristina to sell Serbian property in Kosmet, as well as the speculations on the possible outcome of the events in the Democratic Party are the topics that have marked the national political scene in the past week. The report of Sladjana Pavic.
All sides agree that the Belgrade-Pristina dialog should be resumed – Belgrade, Pristina and the international community. However, there are still disagreements on what topics can be discussed. On Monday, both Serbian and Kosovo sides repeated their well-known stances in the UN Security Council.
The conflict has been enduring for too long, and it is time for the stabilization in the field, Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said at the Security Council session in New York, while pointing that Belgrade is ready to discuss everything – not only on the technical level, but on the high political instance as well. “The only thing were not ready to do is to help in any way in solving the status of Kosmet without the decision of the UN Security Council, said the Serbian Prime Minister. His Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci has repeated that for Pristina the status is solved. However, the opposition in the Province constantly fears that the way is being prepared to give some kind of special status to the north of Kosmet, similar to the one of the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
According to reports in the Belgrade media, the state leadership is preparing the platform about the format and topics of the political dialog of Belgrade and Pristina, that would be headed by the President and the Prime Minister. At the same time, the authorities in Pristina are offering for sale the Serbian property in the Province. The company owned by former US State Secretary Madeleine Albright wishes to buy the postal and telecommunication company, while the retired general and NATO commander during the bombing of Serbia, Wesley Clark is asking Pristina for the license to explore the coal reserves. This is not the first mention of the Serbian property, usurped by the authorities in Pristina, in trade with western companies. In February, the interim institutions in Kosmet announced the sales of property of the Telekom Serbia there and of the ski-center Brezovica. The Telekom reacted promptly by publishing an ad in the Financial Times, warning the potential buyers of “facing lawsuit in case of buying that estate”, so the try to sell it failed. Along the similar lines, director of Serbian Government Office for Kosmet Aleksandar Vulin has announced the complaint to the Constitutional Court regarding the privatization in the Province, adding that Belgrade is opposing those transaction, since at issue is the Serbian property.
It seems that the commotion in the Democratic Party, caused by the defeat in the elections, will not resolve in the fall apart, as it had been speculated in the media. Vice presidents Dragan Djilas and Dragan Sutanovac have stated that the party will maintain its unity, but they agreed that those who had shown weak results in the previous period would have to respond before the party bodies.