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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija should be sought in compromise

Belgrade/Berlin, 17 May 2006

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today in an interview to the daily Rheinische Post from Düsseldorf, that he believes the state union of Serbia-Montenegro will survive, and also that the solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija should be sought in compromise.

Vojislav Kostunica

Kostunica, who concluded his two-day working visit to Germany yesterday, stressed that that compromise is called Europe and everyone can live with it. The maximal demands for Kosovo-Metohija are impossible to realise, neither Serbian, nor Albanian, hence the need to aim for compromise, which lies “in between those two positions”.

He said that the solution for the Kosovo-Metohija issue should not under any circumstances be forced, and as good examples of solutions to conflicts in Europe he mentioned Northern Ireland and the Italian province of Trentino Alto Adige, which the Germans and Austrians call South Tyrol.

Speaking on the forthcoming referendum on independence in Montenegro, Kostunica said that in his opinion, there will be no new crisis in the Balkans even if the referendum results in the separation of Montenegro from the state union, but in that case “everything will become more complicated.”

In that case all that is common would have to be divided. Questions would arise regarding what belongs to whom, leading to discord in the very hearts of many families in which some members want Montenegro to be independent, while others are in favour of living in a common country with Serbia, said Kostunica.

He stressed that he sees the common future of Serbia and Montenegro in the European Union, and added that his evaluations in that sense are supported by Brussels with frequent statements saying that Serbia is important for the EU.

Kostunica said however that Brussels was not justified in calling off the negotiations between the EU and Belgrade on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.

Serbia has the political will to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, but there still are “technical problems” which need to be resolved, explained Kostunica.