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Serbian parliament must declare itself on Ahtisaari's proposal

Belgrade, 5 February 2007

Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Simic stated that UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari's proposed resolution to the status of Kosovo-Metohija formally leaves room for a continuation of talks; however he doubts that the document is negotiable since it is drafted in such a way as to be difficult to change.

Aleksandar Simic

In an interview for today's edition of the Vecernje Novosti daily, Simic said that Serbian parliament must declare itself on Ahtisaari's proposal because when the government is only technically at the country's helm, the negotiating team, at least its major part, is also of the same character.

He added that the elected representatives of the people of Serbia have the sovereign right to decide whether parliament is to form a new negotiating team or alter the existing one with and add new members to it. Simic also said that the negotiating team's platform should be amended with parliament's explicit stance on Ahtisaari's proposal.

According to Simic, parliament must speak its mind on the matter. If it is not possible to summon new parliament because elections have been repeated at six polling stations, the Constitution allows for the current parliament to be summoned since its mandate has not ended yet, explained Simic.

Speaking about whether at the UN Security Council session Russia and China will stand up and defend the stance that the resolution of Kosovo's future status may be reached only through compromise between Belgrade and Pristina, Simic said he believes that the majority of countries in the world are of the same opinion.

We are not talking here about some friendship towards Serbia, but these countries' vital interests. Whether or not this position will be strongly advocated in the case of Serbia depends primarily on our state organs' firm stance regarding the defence of our state's sovereignty, concluded Simic.

He also emphasised that nothing should be dismissed lightly in international relations where the greatest force in the world has such power that it may quite partially apply international law, however such a scenario is not utterly unthinkable since Serbia's new Constitution is pretty clear on this issue and states that the territory of Serbia cannot be divided.