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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Imposed solution for Kosovo may lead to ethnic clashes with unpredictable consequences

Belgrade/New York, 23 September 2006

Serbian President Boris Tadic said yesterday in the UN Security Council’s session dedicated to Kosovo-Metohija that any imposed solution could lead to ethnic clashes with hardly predictable consequences.

Boris Tadic

Author: www.un.org

Kosovo-Metohija’s independence would be harmful for at least three reasons. First of all, it goes against international law that clearly excludes the option of separating part of a territory that belongs to a sovereign, democratic and internationally recognised country.

Secondly, this would impose a serious damage to Serbia, that is doing everything possible in favour of reaching an agreement that would be acceptable for both sides.

Finally, this situation would result in ethnic clashes with hardly predictable consequences. That would seriously destabilise several countries in the region, and their EU integration would be prolonged substantially, said Tadic.

The Serbian President said that decentralisation and protection of Serbian religious and cultural heritage were topics most discussed during the Vienna talks and that Serbia presented “realistic, balanced and detailed proposals”.

Tadic recalled that the over seven years passed since the international administration was introduced in the province, and two-thirds of the Kosovo Serbs are still internally displaced in central Serbia.

Those who remained in Kosovo, despite threats, discriminations and pressures, live in extremely difficult conditions, fearing for themselves and their families and their future is completely uncertain, said the President.

He said that political suspense must grow in a situation like that and that nice words uttered by ethnic Albanian politicians from Kosovo mean nothing if there is no real readiness to return rights and freedoms to the Serb community that they were deprived from after 1999.

Tadic recalled that Serbia came up with a compromise offer about the province’s status and said that “this solution at this moment is the only one that would provide a peaceful solution to the Kosovo problem in full harmony with basic principles of international law”.

He repeated that the Serbian proposal would provide a very wide autonomy for ethnic Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia and added that economically and politically it would provide them to manage their own affairs, which would remove any fear they could be dominated over by Belgrade.

The constitutional solution suggested by Serbia would guarantee repeated negotiations on Kosovo-Metohija after a number of years, Tadic explained.

He stressed that Serbia is ready to constructively participate in further negotiations on the status that would result in an agreement.

Serbia is completely resolved to solve the Kosovo issue by respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, Tadic said and recalled that Serbian parliament recently passed a decision confirming the constitutional position of Kosovo-Metohija as part of Serbia.

Tadic said that this is a completely natural response to all that has been going on in connection with Kosovo during the Vienna talks and elsewhere and added that Kosovo’s independence would be a dangerous precedent that would lead to clashes in many other parts of the world.

The Serbian President warned that possible independence for the province would seriously question the crucial goal of all countries of the region – political, economic and cultural integration of the Balkans in the region.

Ethnic clashes that would emerge unavoidably would be difficult to control. They would also negatively influence the political climate in many Balkan countries. Territorial and national issues would come to light and suppress the complex and long-lasting ones related to EU integration, said Tadic.