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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

EU mission in Kosovo possible only with new UN resolution

Belgrade, 8 December 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said today that Serbia will continue on its road to the EU even if the decision that is made on the status of Kosovo-Metohija is not approved by the UN Security Council (SC) , and is considered illegitimate and illegal by the official Belgrade.

Djelic, who is head of the Serbian negotiating team for the EU, said in an interview to today's issue of daily Politika that the EU is not a state, nor member of the UN and therefore it will not decide on the status of the southern Serbian province on its own.

He said that in case the worst scenario takes place, there are action plans which are a state secret, but underlined that now it is the time to look for compromise and not think about hypothetical situations.

Speaking about further steps in the European integration, Djelic said that Serbia's EU association and the resolution of Kosovo status are two different issues, just as EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said on the day before Serbia initialled the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).

Asked how the fact that the EU plans to send a mission to Kosovo even without a resolution of the UN SC that would authorise it can affect Serbia's relations with Brussels, he answered that any new mission must be authorised by the UN SC in order to have full legitimacy.

Our goal is to sign SAA on January 28, which does not mean that the condition "Mladic" will disappear. On the contrary, that is an obligation that we assumed and must fulfil.

He explained that Serbia believes that it will sign SAA on January 28 because it does everything in its power to complete cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and because it believes that the signing of this document will be in the interest of the EU.

However, Djelic said that citizens with lowest wages are the greatest concern of the Serbian government. In January, a one-off harmonisation of all pensions will be made and they will be increased by approximately 12%.

The government decided at its latest session to set aside RSD 4.7 billion for the repayment of the so-called large debt, which is approximately RSD 3,700 per pensioner. That sum will be paid to the Pension fund starting from December 18 onwards.

He said that as of January 1, EU countries will simplify the procedure of issuing visas to certain categories of Serbian citizens. Visas will be given for a much longer period of time, and not for a week, three weeks or one year, as it is the case now.