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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Proclamation by Kosovo Assembly has no legal significance

Belgrade, 17 November 2005

Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Slobodan Samardzic said that today’s Proclamation by the Kosovo Assembly concerning Kosovo independence did not come as a surprise, but that as a document, it does not have any legal significance.

Slobodan Samardzic

In a statement to the Tanjug news agency, Samardzic said that the Proclamation is only important as a statement of political will of ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija, and added that it has been a common fact for over 20 years that what they strive for is independence.

According to Samardzic, ethnic-Albanians have one platform, which they are now reasserting through a Proclamation by the Assembly, and they want to use this platform when talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija begin.

Samardzic pointed out that this situation is not new, and that in any case, the province’s status will not be decided in the Kosovo Assembly, but at talks in which representatives from Belgrade, the international community and Pristina will all take part.

“The status will be determined in line with the current international rules and regulations, and the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states will be the basis of the negotiating process”, stressed Samardzic.

“This Proclamation is a one-sided action on the part of the Kosovo Assembly, it represents only the ethnic-Albanian community in the province and not the Serbs there, since they have never voted in its favour. The Proclamation is therefore an expression of political will of one side only and nothing more”, he said.

Samardzic added that there had been talks that the Kosovo Assembly will pass a resolution on Kosovo independence, and that it seems it was withdrawn in the last minute, probably owing to pressure by international participants.

“The Proclamation says that a population has the right to self-determination. Minorities, however, do not have this right according to the international law. The Kosovo Assembly members surely know this, and besides, if this right is given to a national minority, it is given in the form of the so-called internal right to self-determination. Therefore, the most that one ethnic community can get is political and territorial autonomy”, Samardzic pointed out.

The status of Kosovo-Metohija will be decided in line with the international law and the Resolution 1244, Samardzic said and added that when it comes to the province’s status, the Resolution advocates the so-called essential autonomy, and these are the parameters according to which the Kosovo status will be determined.