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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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UK ready to support renewal of Serbia’s negotiations with EU

Belgrade/London, 27 June 2006

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the UK is very interested and ready to support the renewal of Serbia’s negotiations with the EU on further process of its admission into the Union.

Vojislav Kostunica and Tony Blair

Author: FoNet

Kostunica said that there is political will to overcome current misunderstandings in Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague tribunal which caused the halt of negotiations with the EU.

The Serbian Prime Minister said that Blair showed “great interest” to renew negotiations with the EU and quoted the British PM as saying that “everyone sees the future of Serbia in Europe.”

He noted that the focus of talks today at Downing Street were further negotiations on Kosovo-Metohija’s future status.

Kostunica said that he presented Blair with the Serbian government’s stand on the highest degree of autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija and gave him Serbia’s platform for solving the Kosovo problem. The British Prime Minister showed readiness to study that document.

Kostunica said that during the talks he stated that the highest level of autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija according to standards of international and European standards is a most optimal solution.

That highest level of autonomy is actually the compromise that should be discussed as every so called “imposed compromise” cannot be acceptable for Serbia, said Kostunica and repeated that Serbian parliament cannot and will not accept an “imposed compromise” and that such a solution will be rejected by Serbia.

Kostunica said that no concrete solutions were mentioned during the talks, though the British Prime Minister was interested in discussing the Serbian government's platform.

As for any concrete ideas on cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and in light of the news that British intelligence will assist Serbia in finding Ratko Mladic, Kostunica said that this kind of cooperation was not discussed. However, he added that an action plan on cooperation with the Tribunal will be drafted.

Serbian Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo, Minister of Interior Dragan Jocic and head of the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija Sanda Raskovic-Ivic were also present at the meeting between Kostunica and Blair.

Vojislav Kostunica and Geoffrey Hoon

Author: Tanjug

At the beginning of his visit yesterday Kostunica talked with Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs Charles Falconer and today also met with British Minister of State for Europe Geoffrey Hoon.

The Serbian Prime Minister concluded his two-day visit to Britain with a lecture delivered at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, themed "Serbia on the Road to EU Integration".

During the stay in Britain, members of the Serbian government's delegation held several meetings with British officials.

Minister Bubalo met with representatives of international financial institutions and the British Department of Trade and Industry.

Minister Jocic held several meetings at the British Home Office, some of which were with Head of the British Counter Terrorism Section Malcolm Baker and Terrorist Research Coordinator John McDowell.