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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Proclamation of Kosovo independence would negatively affect regional stability

Belgrade/New York, 7 December 2007

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic said today in an interview to Associated Press that during his stay in New York he is trying to convince member states of the UN Security Council to prolong the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija for a short term.

File photo of Vuk Jeremic

Author: Tanjug

Asked whether Serbia will stop diplomatic relations with the countries that recognise independence of Kosovo, Jeremic said that if someone makes an action that directly harms your sovereignty and territorial integrity as an independent state, you have no other choice but to reconsider your relations with that specific country or organisation.

If Kosovo Albanian leaders declare independence, Serbia will do everything, except for the use of armed forces, which is in its diplomatic, legal, economic and political power to change that decision.

Asked whether Serbia will consider cutting electricity and commercial ties with Kosovo, the Minister said that Serbia will examine all possibilities, including economic ones, and underlined that Serbia will take care that that measures affect ordinary people in the least extent possible, regardless of their ethnicity and creed.

Jeremic said that the negotiations on the southern Serbian province failed because Kosovo Albanian leaders believed that they should only wait for December 10 and that then they would get independence as a gift.

The reason for such an attitude was that some world powers said that if Belgrade and Pristina failed to reach a compromise by December 10, they would support one of the sides. That is why Kosovo Albanians did not budge from their hard line that anything less than independence is unacceptable for them, the Minister recalled.

He said that since the negotiations failed, the time is for new negotiations which could result in a compromise and added that he told so to member states of the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whom he met with late yesterday in New York.