Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Belgrade rejects neutral status for Kosovo-Metohija

Brussels, 20 November 2007

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said this evening in Brussels, at the conclusion of the fifth round of direct negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, that the Serbian delegation rejected today the possibility of accepting neutral status for Kosovo-Metohija.

Vojislav Kostunica

Author: Fonet

Kostunica told a press conference that even though the international troika of envoys did not officially present any proposal at the meeting, US representative Frank Wisner mentioned some form of neutral status for Kosovo-Metohija, and asked the Serbian delegation if such a solution would be acceptable.

My answer was no. We must discuss the issue of status since that is the subject of negotiations. We can talk about partnership, but only after having resolved the question of status, in accordance with principles of international law, stressed Kostunica. He added that prime minister of the interim provincial government Agim Ceku also expressed a stand similar to Wisner’s.

The Serbian Prime Minister stressed that neutral status is a trick, another name for the attempt at hiding the fact that according to that neutral status, Kosovo-Metohija and Serbia would become two separate states.

He stressed that at negotiations in Baden on November 26, Serbia will continue to present its proposal for substantial autonomy, even though the Albanian side did not wish to listen to the Serbian proposal today.

I am convinced that this is a viable, good and legally sound solution, said Kostunica, and added that substantial autonomy is an idea which runs through all the efforts made by the Serbian delegation and that is the formulation contained in the UN SC Resolution 1244.

We proved today that substantial autonomy is not just a phrase, but that we have concrete examples of how it functions, China with Hong Kong, Finland with Oland Islands and Serbia with Kosovo-Metohija, explained Kostunica.

According to Kostunica, that which is common to all examples of substantial autonomies is respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty of existing states and unaltered borders, but also the widest possible form of autonomy given to parts of territory.

He said that EU countries, as members of the UN, must harmonise their stand with the Security Council resolution regulating the status of Kosovo-Metohija.

Kostunica stressed that there is only one body higher than the EU and that is the UN.

Matters must be resolved with a new resolution in the Security Council, that is abundantly clear, said Kostunica and added that the EU, with its 27 member states who are also members of the UN, will have to harmonise their stands with a Security Council resolution.

Boris Tadic

Author: Fonet

Together with Serbian President Boris Tadic the Serbian Prime Minister expressed regret due to the fact that the Albanian delegation is still unwilling to discuss the status issue and take an active part in the process being led by the troika of envoys.

Tadic said that even now the Albanian side did not express any interest in discussing the status issue, but talked only about post-status relations, or relations between two independent states.

He stressed that Belgrade rejects artificial deadlines and imposed solutions and believes that it is still possible to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

He said that at today’s meeting Belgrade presented its principled stand and once more took a step forward in giving examples which support the idea of functional substantial autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija.

Once more we have explained that our intention was not to mimic Hong Kong or Oland Islands, but to find best elements which could ultimately provide a basis for a flexible model for resolving the issue of the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, said Tadic.

According to Tadic, Serbia has once more confirmed that it is not giving up and will not give up its sovereign status over Kosovo-Metohija and does not consent to disintegration of the country.