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Withdrawal of draft resolution envisaging independent Kosovo-Metohija big triumph for Serbian, Russian diplomacy

Belgrade, 21 July 2007

Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic said today that preventing the adoption of the last draft resolution by the US and Europe on Kosovo-Metohija is a big triumph for Serbian and Russian diplomacy.

Slobodan Samardzic at today's press conference

Samardzic told a press conference yesterday that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica expressed gratitude to the Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Alexeyev and requested him to convey his gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Samardzic, the fact that consultations on the status of Kosovo-Metohija will be held in the Contact Group instead of the Security Council does not mean that the negotiations process has been removed from the UN.

The Contact Group will continue to work under UN auspices, and status will be established by the Security Council, and the Contact Group has been entrusted with the task to conduct consultations in the new phase, explained the Minister.

There is still a lot of work to do, but this is to prevent a bad policy which began with negotiations led by Marti Ahtisaari, said Samardzic and added that the withdrawal of the latest draft resolution has finally shelved Ahtisaari’s plan.

The Minister explained that Belgrade rejected the new resolution because it was a backdoor way of beginning the process leading to independence for Kosovo-Metohija.

Resolution 1244 which guarantees Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty would have been rendered void if the new resolution had come into force said the Minister and added that Belgrade’s position on the question is still the same.

We are going to begin negotiations without conditions and the Contact Group will take responsibility for that. The group is to meet on July 25 in Vienna, and on July 23 there will be an internal consultation in the EU, said Samardzic.

He stressed that for present the threat of a prejudiced solution and negotiations becoming trivial and banal is removed.

Samardzic stressed that jurisdiction has not bee transferred from the Security Council to the Contact Group and added that the Security Council will monitor the work of the Contact Group and analyse periodical reports and assess the phases of negotiations.

He added that the Contact Group will have the jurisdiction to negotiate proposals, the framework for negotiations and to persuade the two sides to directly participate in negotiations.

The Minister stressed that the Contact Group has no right to veto or the authority to decide, rather only to mediate in the process.

He said that the announcement made by president of the Kosovo-Metohija interim government Agim Ceku that he will declare Kosovo-Metohia independent on November 28 is a threat among several made so far.

Samardzic said that the announcement by Kosovo-Metohija officials that they plan to unilaterally declare independence has not come as a surprise since such ideas have existed for a long time and serve to distract the population of the province who live in extremely bad conditions.