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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Cooperation with Hague tribunal important for defending Serbia’s sovereignty

Belgrade, 26 July 2008

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said today that he is waiting for Hague tribunal Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz’s report with great optimism and that fulfilling obligations towards the tribunal is directly connected with the defence of Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Mirko Cvetkovic

In an interview for the news agency Beta, Cvetkovic said that Serbia respects international law in every respect, whether it is cooperation with The Hague tribunal or activities against Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence.

He said that he expects that after Brammertz presents his report, the EU will approve implementation of the transitional agreement which regulates trade relations between the EU and Serbia, and this could happen in September when the next meeting of EU Council of Ministers is to take place.

According to Cvetkovic, by then Serbia will take diplomatic steps to get the approval of all EU countries for implementation of the transitional agreement.

I expect that following clear confirmation that Serbia is fulfilling its international obligations towards the Hague tribunal, the EU’s policy of setting conditions for Serbia will weaken, stressed Cvetkovic. He added that a significant number of countries have expressed satisfaction with Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague tribunal and Serbia has proved that it respects international law.

The Serbian Prime Minister said that there is unity in the new government regarding full cooperation with the Hague tribunal.

He confirmed that the Serbian Interior Ministry did not participate in the arrest of Hague indictee Radovan Karadzic, and the action was carried out by members of the security services who did a good job. He added that this shows the quality of a legally strong state that should establish mechanisms and legal frameworks which function regardless of who is in power.

He said that in his opinion protests in Belgrade against Karadzic’s arrest do not threaten the political stability of the country or public safety.

Cvetkovic said that changes to the action plan concerning Kosovo do not mean that Serbia has changed its policy rather they give Serbia scope to improve its position to better defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Serbia will seek from the UN General Assembly to ask the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legitimacy of recognising Kosovo’s independence.

Commenting on French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s opinion that Serbia should give up its demand of consulting the ICJ, he said that Serbia takes into account opinions of all world officials, but it is Serbia’s right to consult the ICJ since posing this question cannot harm anyone.

The Prime Minister also said that it is possible and necessary to reconfigure international forces in Kosovo, but it should be done in agreement with Serbia and must be approved by the Security Council.

The Serbian government, he stressed, maintains the clear stance that Serbs living in Kosovo and those who are waiting to return there must be helped.

It is realistic that Serbia will acquire candidate status by the end of this or the beginning of next year. There are three goals in relations with the EU, implementation of the transitional agreement, acquiring candidate status and getting Serbia included on the White Schengen List, which will practically open the doors to the EU for Serbian citizens, explained Cvetkovic.

According to Cvetkovic, certain conditions are still to be met for removal of visa restrictions, but these are technical not political, such as issuing of new passports.

The speed of Serbia’s EU integration process will depend on the efficiency of parliament, said Cvetkovic. He stressed that he is surprised by the behaviour of the opposition parties in parliament because they displayed a lack of responsibility precisely when decisions most vital to the Serbian nation were to be made.

Cvetkovic appealed to all political parties to continue work in parliament and to be constructive, and recalled that a large number of laws need to adopted, including many which concern meeting conditions for EU membership.

He said that the Serbian government will take measures during the next four years to provide all Serbian people with a better life, and pensioners will feel the positive effects as early as September this year.

A decree is being prepared under which a special increase in pensions will be made, stressed Cvetkovic and added that the question under consideration is whether to increase all pensions by 10% or to give a higher increase to those with smaller pensions.

According to Cvetkovic, the Finance Ministry is still working on a plan to determine from where to secure funds for increasing pensions, but pensioners can count on bigger pensions.

Rebalancing the budget for this year, he said, will not have too significant an effect on the limits of public expenditure.

The financial situation is stable. It is possible however that deficit in the part of the budget relating to earlier debt will be not according to predictions, which is a result of reduced privatisation revenues, and will stand at nearly RSD 30 billion, said Cvetkovic.

He explained that this will be rectified by a sale of government securities, but a decision has still not been made on the terms and conditions for doing so, said Cvetkovic.

The Serbian budget will also receive funds from the sale of the Serbian oil processor NIS, which is part of the energy agreement between Serbia and Russia, said the Prime Minister. He said that he hopes that this will happen before the end of the year, as envisaged by the protocol on implementation of the agreement.

I do not expect that negotiations with Russian partners will last long, said Cvetkovic and pointed out the importance of implementing the energy agreement.

He said that talks have begun with representatives of international banks on financing of works on Corridor 10, a project for which funds will be partly provided from the Serbian budget.

Commenting on the protest notes sent by Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to Serbia concerning implementation of the government’s decree on protection of assets of parts of companies which are based in the former Yugoslav republics, Cvetkovic said that he has asked the government’s expert team for succession issues to determine the legal basis of the protest notes.

Initial information shows that the decree was approved in response to similar decisions made in former republics, and has an economic and not a political background, said Cvetkovic.

The aim in approving the controversial decree, he explained, was to make it possible to register assets of socially owned companies on Serbian territory which were branches of companies based in former republics.

According to Cvetkovic, misunderstandings in resolving property-legal relations between former Yugoslav republics appeared due to the fact that the joint committee which was in charge of the matter halted its work.

Cvetkovic stressed that the new Serbian government is willing to adopt the law on restitution, but the best solution has still not been found. It is possible that the draft law on restitution will be examined once again, and that different laws will regulate the return of confiscated assets and city building land, said the Prime Minister.