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Government representatives discuss Kosovo Plan with Contact Group
Belgrade,
30 July 2004
Aleksandar Simic, Legal Adviser to the Prime Minister, said today that recent visits to Contact Group countries, where talks were held on the Serbian government’s Plan for a Political Solution to the Situation in Kosovo-Metohija, represent the first serious diplomatic activity by the Serbian government and the state union, who want to present to relevant international officials Serbia’s plan for resolving the most difficult issue for Serbia, that being Kosovo-Metohija.
From left: Aleksandar Simic and Slobodan Samardzic
He said that it was explained to officials in the Contact Group member-countries that the Serbian parliament is behind this plan, that it has received the backing of all political forces in the country, that it is not bound to one politician or one political party, and that it is a matter of state policy towards Kosovo-Metohija.
According to Slobodan Samardzic, Political Adviser to the Prime Minister, talks were held in all Contact Group centres, with the exception of the United States, whose representatives visited Belgrade on July 6 and 7, when US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and Deputy Assistant State Secretary Cathleen Stevens spoke to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus.
He added that in other Contact Group centres, talks were held with officials from foreign ministries, mostly heads of the departments in charge of South East Europe and the Balkans, advisers to prime ministers, and with parliamentarians dealing with these issues.
Samardzic said that the Serbian government wants to “carry out longer and more comprehensive talks with Contact Group representatives, since Serbia and the state union regard the Contact Group as the chief international mediator in resolving the issue of Serbia’s southern province.”
He added that representatives of the Contact Group did not have any serious objections to the Plan and he recalled that the international community has described the document as a “good starting point for further talks.” However, as time went by, no concrete moves were made, so the Serbian delegation wanted to know what the international officials in Kosovo-Metohija think of the Plan. Samardzic said that the stand was unchanged so the delegation wanted to know why the Plan had not been thoroughly analysed and discussed and why its implementation had not been initiated.
“We have not received a clear response to that question. The response mainly reduced to Kosovo Albanians, who do not want to accept the Plan, and we were told on several occasions that, if we were in a situation to convince Albanians that the Plan was good, and if they would not object to it, the international community would support it too,” Samardzic said, adding that the international community was expected to take the responsibility in Kosovo-Metohija and discuss the Plan with Albanians.
According to him, instead of getting any response, certain Contact Group’s representatives advocated that the Serbs should gradually enter Kosovo’s working groups and institutions, including the group in charge of local administration decentralisation plan.
“When it comes to that, we think that it is a serious plan, with one fault – it does not deal with the main and basic issue, that is, Serbs’ status in the province. It also disregards the ways to improve their security,” Samardzic said, adding that such concept of decentralisation is inadequate for a society like Kosovo’s. He stressed that the international community officials accepted this argument to a certain degree. However, nothing has been done when it comes to Serbian government’s Plan, he said.
He added that there is a difference between the official stand of the Russian Federation and other members of the Contact Group.
According to Slobodan Samardzic, Political Adviser to the Prime Minister, talks were held in all Contact Group centres, with the exception of the United States, whose representatives visited Belgrade on July 6 and 7, when US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and Deputy Assistant State Secretary Cathleen Stevens spoke to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus.
He added that in other Contact Group centres, talks were held with officials from foreign ministries, mostly heads of the departments in charge of South East Europe and the Balkans, advisers to prime ministers, and with parliamentarians dealing with these issues.
Samardzic said that the Serbian government wants to “carry out longer and more comprehensive talks with Contact Group representatives, since Serbia and the state union regard the Contact Group as the chief international mediator in resolving the issue of Serbia’s southern province.”
He added that representatives of the Contact Group did not have any serious objections to the Plan and he recalled that the international community has described the document as a “good starting point for further talks.” However, as time went by, no concrete moves were made, so the Serbian delegation wanted to know what the international officials in Kosovo-Metohija think of the Plan. Samardzic said that the stand was unchanged so the delegation wanted to know why the Plan had not been thoroughly analysed and discussed and why its implementation had not been initiated.
“We have not received a clear response to that question. The response mainly reduced to Kosovo Albanians, who do not want to accept the Plan, and we were told on several occasions that, if we were in a situation to convince Albanians that the Plan was good, and if they would not object to it, the international community would support it too,” Samardzic said, adding that the international community was expected to take the responsibility in Kosovo-Metohija and discuss the Plan with Albanians.
According to him, instead of getting any response, certain Contact Group’s representatives advocated that the Serbs should gradually enter Kosovo’s working groups and institutions, including the group in charge of local administration decentralisation plan.
“When it comes to that, we think that it is a serious plan, with one fault – it does not deal with the main and basic issue, that is, Serbs’ status in the province. It also disregards the ways to improve their security,” Samardzic said, adding that such concept of decentralisation is inadequate for a society like Kosovo’s. He stressed that the international community officials accepted this argument to a certain degree. However, nothing has been done when it comes to Serbian government’s Plan, he said.
He added that there is a difference between the official stand of the Russian Federation and other members of the Contact Group.
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