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A:
Serbia strongly opposes any form of independence for Kosovo-Metohija
Belgrade,
16 April 2005
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has said that Serbia strongly opposes any form of independence for Kosovo-Metohija.
Vojislav Kostunica
In an interview with today’s issue of daily Vecernje Novosti, Kostunica spoke about Belgrade’s strategy for negotiations on Kosovo-Metohija’s final status. He said that the phrase “more than autonomy – less than independence” represents a form of expanded autonomy, but by no means represents independence.
“Some things are already clear – there is no return to the state before 1999. But we cannot accept the situation after 1999 either. We strongly oppose any form of independence, conditional or unconditional,” said Kostunica.
According to him, the first step is to seriously assess standards. “When it comes to human rights, the situation is more than unsatisfactory. There are attempts to portray the situation in a better light by putting an accent on institutions. No doubt that institutions exist, but their purpose should be to protect the rights of individuals, which is not the case. For example, the non-Albanian minority will always be outvoted in parliament. Our objections are mostly directed at this,” said Kostunica and stressed that the key issue is the return of displaced Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians as well as their freedom of movement.
Kostunica said that talks on the assessment of standards in Kosovo-Metohija will be launched on several levels. “Standards and the respect of human rights are of the greatest importance to us. We want mechanisms for measuring standards to be accurately defined and Belgrade will have a very active role in this process,” said Kostunica.
He said that reports and assessments by certain non-governmental organisations on the province’s future status should not be considered very significant, adding that he does not expect the issue of Kosovo-Metohija’s status to be resolved this year. “Independence, in any case, would not represent a compromise and it is clear that any change of borders would endanger the established regional stability,” Kostunica warned.
“Some things are already clear – there is no return to the state before 1999. But we cannot accept the situation after 1999 either. We strongly oppose any form of independence, conditional or unconditional,” said Kostunica.
According to him, the first step is to seriously assess standards. “When it comes to human rights, the situation is more than unsatisfactory. There are attempts to portray the situation in a better light by putting an accent on institutions. No doubt that institutions exist, but their purpose should be to protect the rights of individuals, which is not the case. For example, the non-Albanian minority will always be outvoted in parliament. Our objections are mostly directed at this,” said Kostunica and stressed that the key issue is the return of displaced Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians as well as their freedom of movement.
Kostunica said that talks on the assessment of standards in Kosovo-Metohija will be launched on several levels. “Standards and the respect of human rights are of the greatest importance to us. We want mechanisms for measuring standards to be accurately defined and Belgrade will have a very active role in this process,” said Kostunica.
He said that reports and assessments by certain non-governmental organisations on the province’s future status should not be considered very significant, adding that he does not expect the issue of Kosovo-Metohija’s status to be resolved this year. “Independence, in any case, would not represent a compromise and it is clear that any change of borders would endanger the established regional stability,” Kostunica warned.
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