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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

EU mission in Kosovo-Metohija with corresponding UN SC Resolution

Belgrade, 9 November 2007

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said today it will be good if the EU mission, which should step in instead of UNMIK, arrived in Kosovo-Metohija with a corresponding UN Security Council Resolution.

Vuk Jeremic

Author: Fonet

At a press conference on occasion of the conclusion of Serbia’s six-month presidency over the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Jeremic stressed that the best and the only way is to hear the explicit stance of the Security Council on such an important political and safety issue as the administration of Kosovo-Metohija.

He said he is convinced that thus it will be possible to avoid all questions regarding the change in the province administration and added that Resolution 1244 is the only international resolution that now defines the current state of affairs in the province.

Jeremic, who was on a visit to Berlin two days ago, voiced hope that Germany will be a voice of reason when the EU takes a stance towards the resolution of the Kosovo-Metohija future status.

According to Jeremic, Serbia wants to find the best solution to the status of Kosovo-Metohija through a consensus and the issue should be solved in line with European values.

Jeremic also said it is important to continue the search for the solution to the province’s status if the agreement is not reached on December 10.

Jeremic said that officials of CoE and other European institutions rated Serbia's chairmanship of the CoE Committee of Ministers as one of the most successful in the previous ten years.

He said that Serbia proved that it has international capacity and credibility to lead a European organisation and explained that presiding over the CoE Committee of Ministers is the most complex international function which Serbia has performed after the 2000 democratic changes and ten-year isolation.

Jeremic said that the CoE is the oldest pan-European organisation with very diversified field of work and for that reason its chairmanship was a challenge for the Serbian Foreign Ministry and other institutions in the country.

He said that special contribution to the successful chairmanship was given by the Cabinets of the Serbian President, Prime Minister and Serbian parliament Speaker.

The Minister pointed out as outstanding results of Serbia's chairmanship the proclamation of October 10 as the European Day against the Death Penalty, the issue on which the CoE had not been able to reach a consensus in the previous ten years.

Another important achievement is that in October, the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse was finally opened for signing, which Serbia signed at the session of the 28th conference of European justice ministers on October 25 in Spain.

Another special success is the beginning of implementation of the Memorandum of understanding between the EU and the CoE, the two most important European institutions.

At the first summit of the EU and CoE after the adoption of this memorandum, for the first time in 25 years, a joint conclusion was reached by the EU and CoE and that was done under Serbia's chairmanship, the Minister underlined.

He added that in the past six months, work on the CoE White Paper on intercultural dialogue is about to finish and that an informal ministerial conference on intercultural dialogue of culture ministers of Southeastern European countries is taking place these days in Europe.

Jeremic noted that CoE chairmanship is for Serbia a great opportunity for international affirmation and recalled that taking over of this duty in May was problematic as many posed a question whether Serbia has capacity and political credibility for that.

We were one of the first countries for which they questioned whether it is to be left out from the chairmanship, and now, six months later, the conclusion is that this has been the most successful chairmanship in the past few years, stressed Jeremic.

Responding the question on Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague tribunal, the Minister said that this cooperation was positively assessed, which is proven by the initialling of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU.

The Serbian government is dedicated to cooperation with the Hague tribunal and Belgrade will do everything to complete this cooperation in the shortest period possible so that already in 2008 there is no political conditioning for Serbia in its EU integration, the Foreign Minister said.

The press conference was also attended by Serbian Ambassador to CoE Sladjana Prica, Coordinator for Serbia’s CoE Chairmanship Dejan Sahovic and Borislav Stefanovic of the Foreign Ministry.

Serbia will hand over CoE chairmanship to Slovakia on November 12 in Strasbourg.