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A:
Oland Islands example of successfully functioning autonomy in Europe
Brussels,
20 November 2007
Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic said that Serbia’s negotiating team presented today in Brussels, at a meeting with the international troika of envoys, the case of Oland Islands as an example of a successfully functioning autonomy in Europe.
Vuk Jeremic, left, and Slobodan Samardzic address the media
Author:
Tanjug
In a statement to the press following the meeting, Samardzic said that the islands are inhabited by Swedes, but territorially belong to Finland.
The objection raised last time was that Hong Kong is in Asia and is inhabited by the Chinese, recalled the Minister, adding that this time there were no objections of that kind since the Oland Islands are in Europe and part of the EU, and are inhabited by Swedes and not Finns.
He stressed that very wide autonomy has successfully functioned on the islands for more than 80 years and added that once again Belgrade wanted to show that if there is political good will, solutions can be reached.
We took two functional cases of the widest possible autonomy and asymmetric solutions within the framework of the state and proved that our model of substantial autonomy is very similar to that one and offers even more favourable conditions to ethnic Albanians, said Samardzic.
The Minister added that the troika of envoys reacted positively to the proposal.
According to Samardzic, the main problem at today’s talks was how to motivate Kosovo Albanians who think that independence can be gained if no solution is reached, and this has been a problem throughout the negotiations.
It is essential that today’s meeting, as well as the meeting to be held from November 26 to 28 in Vienna, is used to persuade the Albanian side to negotiate, said Samardzic. He stressed that now that elections in Kosovo are over, Belgrade is expecting the troika to help in this context.
Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said that the troika did not present any proposal at today’s meeting, not even regarding a neutral status for Kosovo-Metohija.
We can expect that the troika will raise some questions at the afternoon meeting, in order to inspect the situation on both sides, said Jeremic.
He stressed that today’s direct meeting between Belgrade and Pristina is very important and added that after this a framework will be created for the next round of negotiations, scheduled to be held from November 26 to 28, in Vienna.
We will do everything in our power to finally start the process of real negotiations, said Jeremic and added that it is impossible to reach a compromise without negotiations.
According to Jeremic, Belgrade will insist that under no conditions should it come to unilateral moves.
The objection raised last time was that Hong Kong is in Asia and is inhabited by the Chinese, recalled the Minister, adding that this time there were no objections of that kind since the Oland Islands are in Europe and part of the EU, and are inhabited by Swedes and not Finns.
He stressed that very wide autonomy has successfully functioned on the islands for more than 80 years and added that once again Belgrade wanted to show that if there is political good will, solutions can be reached.
We took two functional cases of the widest possible autonomy and asymmetric solutions within the framework of the state and proved that our model of substantial autonomy is very similar to that one and offers even more favourable conditions to ethnic Albanians, said Samardzic.
The Minister added that the troika of envoys reacted positively to the proposal.
According to Samardzic, the main problem at today’s talks was how to motivate Kosovo Albanians who think that independence can be gained if no solution is reached, and this has been a problem throughout the negotiations.
It is essential that today’s meeting, as well as the meeting to be held from November 26 to 28 in Vienna, is used to persuade the Albanian side to negotiate, said Samardzic. He stressed that now that elections in Kosovo are over, Belgrade is expecting the troika to help in this context.
Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said that the troika did not present any proposal at today’s meeting, not even regarding a neutral status for Kosovo-Metohija.
We can expect that the troika will raise some questions at the afternoon meeting, in order to inspect the situation on both sides, said Jeremic.
He stressed that today’s direct meeting between Belgrade and Pristina is very important and added that after this a framework will be created for the next round of negotiations, scheduled to be held from November 26 to 28, in Vienna.
We will do everything in our power to finally start the process of real negotiations, said Jeremic and added that it is impossible to reach a compromise without negotiations.
According to Jeremic, Belgrade will insist that under no conditions should it come to unilateral moves.
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