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Decentralisation of power most important issue in Kosovo-Metohija
Belgrade/Kosovska Mitrovica,
25 December 2004
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in an interview to Kosovska Mitrovica newspaper Jedinstvo that the decentralisation of power is the most important issue in Kosovo-Metohija.
Vojislav Kostunica
The Prime Minister stressed that that issue can be solved only through a special institutional arrangement, as proposed by the Serbian government.
"We are utterly unsatisfied with the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and our Plan is a response to the current disastrous situation in the province ", Kostunica said.
He said that Kosovo-Metohija is a grave national, regional and European issue and therefore it has to be tackled seriously, thoroughly and in the long term. In that process, it is important to protect essential national and state interests.
Asked whether he expects UNMIK to allow Belgrade to be included in the dialogue on equal terms, the Prime Minister said that that is the basic precondition for the solution of the Kosovo problem. Everyone has to be aware of that, even UNMIK.
"I am positive that Belgrade’s direct participation would be a crucial factor of the dialogue’s progress”, Kostunica explained.
He said that Serbia has to struggle to establish principles and criteria for the solution of the Kosovo problem on the international level, especially the full implementation of Resolution 1244, which guarantees sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Asked what Serbs in the province are left to do, the Serbian Prime Minister responded that in these circumstances, only additional institutional guarantees stemming from the Serbian government’s Plan could protect vital interests of the Serbian community.
Only then will it be possible to think how to include Serbs in Kosovo institutions, which should become democratic, that is, multiethnic.
"I am aware that I am speaking about something that Serbs living in the province know too well, owing to their bitter experience of the past five and a half years,” Kostunica said.
Regular consultations on the implementation of the Plan must be held with responsible state officials in Serbia, and with representatives of Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija, who must be familiar with the position of state authorities on every concrete issue, and also to participate in the shaping of those positions, the Prime Minister said.
Kostunica said that the new Constitution of Serbia should be expected in early spring.
"Speaking about the position of Kosovo-Metohija in the new Constitution, it is defined as an autonomous province, whose status is determined by a special law adopted by a two-thirds majority of deputies in the parliament. Everything else is part of a painstaking process that is ahead of us and for which we, as a state, must be fully prepared,” the Prime Minister concluded.
"We are utterly unsatisfied with the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and our Plan is a response to the current disastrous situation in the province ", Kostunica said.
He said that Kosovo-Metohija is a grave national, regional and European issue and therefore it has to be tackled seriously, thoroughly and in the long term. In that process, it is important to protect essential national and state interests.
Asked whether he expects UNMIK to allow Belgrade to be included in the dialogue on equal terms, the Prime Minister said that that is the basic precondition for the solution of the Kosovo problem. Everyone has to be aware of that, even UNMIK.
"I am positive that Belgrade’s direct participation would be a crucial factor of the dialogue’s progress”, Kostunica explained.
He said that Serbia has to struggle to establish principles and criteria for the solution of the Kosovo problem on the international level, especially the full implementation of Resolution 1244, which guarantees sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Asked what Serbs in the province are left to do, the Serbian Prime Minister responded that in these circumstances, only additional institutional guarantees stemming from the Serbian government’s Plan could protect vital interests of the Serbian community.
Only then will it be possible to think how to include Serbs in Kosovo institutions, which should become democratic, that is, multiethnic.
"I am aware that I am speaking about something that Serbs living in the province know too well, owing to their bitter experience of the past five and a half years,” Kostunica said.
Regular consultations on the implementation of the Plan must be held with responsible state officials in Serbia, and with representatives of Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija, who must be familiar with the position of state authorities on every concrete issue, and also to participate in the shaping of those positions, the Prime Minister said.
Kostunica said that the new Constitution of Serbia should be expected in early spring.
"Speaking about the position of Kosovo-Metohija in the new Constitution, it is defined as an autonomous province, whose status is determined by a special law adopted by a two-thirds majority of deputies in the parliament. Everything else is part of a painstaking process that is ahead of us and for which we, as a state, must be fully prepared,” the Prime Minister concluded.
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