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In Kosovo negotiations Serbia insists on preserving state territory
Belgrade,
22 April 2006
Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Simic said today that the requests of Serbia in the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija are the preservation of the state territory, inviolability of borders and the province's demilitarisation.
Aleksandar Simic
Simic, who is a member of Serbia's negotiating team in the talks on the future status of Kosovo, told the television Palma Plus from Jagodina that Serbia will come up very soon with a complete proposal for the province's future position.
He explained that that position will be very serious and strong and that the province will have a much wider autonomy in many respects in relation to those prescribed by the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1974.
According to him, that position will enable ethnic Albanians "to essentially manage their own affairs and Belgrade will not order them what to do."
However, he stressed that for the Serbian side, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku is an "absolutely unacceptable collocutor" in the talks on the province's future status, because he is charged by Serbian courts with serious war crimes and serious violations of international law.
Simic added that Ramus Haradinaj and Hasim Taci are also unacceptable for Serbia as negotiators because the first is indicted by the Hague tribunal for war crimes, while the second has been validly convicted by a domestic court.
He concluded that the negotiations on the province's status will actually be negotiations on the level of substantial autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia.
He explained that that position will be very serious and strong and that the province will have a much wider autonomy in many respects in relation to those prescribed by the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1974.
According to him, that position will enable ethnic Albanians "to essentially manage their own affairs and Belgrade will not order them what to do."
However, he stressed that for the Serbian side, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku is an "absolutely unacceptable collocutor" in the talks on the province's future status, because he is charged by Serbian courts with serious war crimes and serious violations of international law.
Simic added that Ramus Haradinaj and Hasim Taci are also unacceptable for Serbia as negotiators because the first is indicted by the Hague tribunal for war crimes, while the second has been validly convicted by a domestic court.
He concluded that the negotiations on the province's status will actually be negotiations on the level of substantial autonomy of Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia.
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