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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

European integration a priority in the second year of government's term in office

Belgrade, 14 March 2005

In an interview to Sunday's edition of Politika daily, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica spoke about the Serbian government's activities in the second year of its mandate, cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, the elections for the Serbia-Montenegrin parliament, a new Serbian constitution, the initiative for establishing a high level of autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia and Serbia-Montenegro and renewal of cooperation and dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. The official web site of the Serbian government brings excerpts from the interview:

European integration a priority in the second year of government's term in office

Activities of the Serbian government in the second year of its mandate:

- There are several important tasks before the Serbian government this year: the obtaining of the positive Feasibility Study, negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, talks on the implementation of standards in Kosovo-Metohija. We will continue with intensive legislative activity. There will be chance to encourage the process of strengthening of the state union and its functionality. I think that the Feasibility Study will have positive impact to further strengthening of the state union.

Of course, all these tasks have another, perhaps a more important aspect and that is that they should help create a more stable situation in the country and a healthier economy, both which should allow for citizens to live better. Nevertheless, the mark of the second year of the government's term in office will be European integration. This has been said not only in Belgrade, but in Brussels as well.

Can the surrender of Ramus Haradinaj and his associates to The Hague Tribunal change Serbia's position towards that court?

- The fact that the Prime Minister of Kosovo went to The Hague is important in itself. Our attention is drawn to preserving stability in the province and ensuring that Haradinaj's surrender does not aggravate the already very difficult position of Serbs and other non-Albanians in the province.

Is the way in which Haradinaj left to The Hague a "lesson" to Serbia and Croatia?

- If we start analysing whether that is a lesson to Serbia and Croatia, I would say that things are much more complex than that. The history of this territory and wars fought in it, including the war of the 1990s, is too complicated to be reduced to daily political evaluations or that of certain analysts, such as the assessment of the Haradinaj's surrender.

The Serbian government believes that its obligation is to cooperate with The Hague Tribunal and it developed a model of cooperation in the form of voluntary surrenders, which has started to yield results. Before that, we needed to make some preparations, influence the public and reduce tensions and sharp divisions in the country. To put it simply, owing to this model, perception of the cooperation with The Hague has changed. There is a belief that the state and the people should not be hostages of individuals indicted by the tribunal. In some way, that is most important for us.

Will it be possible to continue with the model of voluntary surrender since Minister of Justice Zoran Stojkovic said in The Hague that the government is ready to arrest General Pavkovic?

- Belgrade is required to make progress towards full cooperation. That means that one unsolved case practically means that there is not full cooperation, which can be seen in the example of Croatia. We will do everything to meet our obligations in the most appropriate way, that is, through voluntary surrenders. I am positive that we will manage to achieve full cooperation with The Hague Tribunal in that way.

The case of Ratko Mladic:

- We are required to resolve each and every case if the indictees, in this case Mladic, are in this country's territory. For us it is very important that the state and the people get a very important political and moral encouragement from the positive feasibility study. After fulfilling obligations one by one, it will be very difficult to explain why the remaining obligations are not met, and those who are indicted will find it hard to explain to them why they should stop the progress of the entire country. I simply feel that that process will develop in a completely normal way, without unrest or tension and that the stability of institutions will be preserved.

When should the elections for the Serbia-Montenegrin parliament be expected?

- If Serbia were the only one to decide, those elections would have been held at their due time. The problem is in Montenegro, in the divide that exists in Montenegro on that issue. I am sure that the feasibility study will serve as an encouragement, and to some extent, an obligation as well - it will be a kind of warning to those who failed to meet their obligations.

New constitution of Serbia:

- I would like to remind that the government sent a Draft constitution to the parliament almost a year ago and in that way it did its part of the job. In order to reach a much needed consensus, it is necessary for the political parties outside the parliamentary majority to approach this task in an equally responsible manner. Still, my optimism that a new constitution will be adopted this year is based on the fact that it will have to be done in the forthcoming period and because it will no longer be in just Serbia’s interest but also in the interest of Brussels. I think that a new constitution for Serbia will be one of the first demands by Brussels after we get a positive feasibility study.

On the initiative to establish a high degree of autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia-Montenegro:

- It seems to me that this is a middle-ground solution and that’s why I believe that it stands a chance. That would be a solution under which nobody takes or loses it all. Neither the Serbs, nor the ethnic-Albanians, nor the international community, nor Europe. The merit of this solution is in the fact that there seems to be a kind of consensus in Serbia about it. It might not be visible at first sight but it stems from a general agreement in Serbia that Kosovo-Metohija may not be independent. This stand against an independent Kosovo-Metohija is just one step towards a high degree of autonomy for the province.

Restoring cooperation and talks between Belgrade and Pristina:

- We have always maintained that such cooperation is necessary. On several occasions we have shown that we are ready to talk with both UNMIK and Kosovo-Metohija’s provisional institutions. There is no ambiguity about that. The issue of standards and a status will be opened in 2005 and there is no doubt that those talks as well as direct contacts between Belgrade and Pristina must begin.

Forecast about a completion of the second year in office:

- I am more engaged in work than in forecasts. The first thing on my mind at the beginning of the second year in office of the Serbian government is what lies ahead of us, what we left behind, and what else needs to be done. Far from it that little was done before this government took office but this government is truly committed to doing certain jobs that are in the interest of the state. If this government does not carry out these talks, some other government will have to do that. The importance of the work we are doing convinces me that this government will continue to do it.

On economic growth, tight monetary policy, and increasing hard currency reserves continue in 2005:

- In the year behind us, we had both economic growth and real growth in wages, we had greater access to credit, faster privatisation, and we had the fact that this government started to relieve the country of the burden of certain debts. I think that this year started with encouraging changes when it comes to investment. There are many more encouraging signs and that convinces me that this trend will continue. So, investment, privatisation, and the restructuring of the economy will undoubtedly mark this year.

The situation in Mobtel:

- The government knows one thing, that is that its ownership share was established based on the commission’s report saying that the government’s stake in Mobtel is 58.23 percent and that the rest belongs to BK Trade. This is fact that the government will never give up and it will simply protect its share of Mobtel. On the other hand, the state postal company PTT is engaged in a dispute before the Arbitration Court in Zurich to establish circumstances surrounding the relations in Mobtel and its development. So, the government is doing everything, in two fields, to protect its interests. In our meeting with the Russian Ambassador and the representative of Alfa Group, we were informed that BK Trade’s stake in Mobtel had been sold to the Russian firm Alfa Group. We will do everything to establish how it was done and to obtain information about the contract thought PTT, which has a special interest in these matters.

On opinion that the government is departing from the reform path that you had started together with late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic:

- It is true that we started it together, which means that Zoran Djindjic and I were driven by the same political goals, the same political ideals. I would single out one of them, that being our country’s membership in the EU, the great family of European peoples. It is natural that there were certain differences between the two of us, as the presidents of two political parties, which, in a European context, belong to two families of political parties. But this is a moment to remember both Zoran Djindjic’s death and the fact that we are just days away from getting a positive feasibility study – that our shared goal and our shared dream is slowly coming true. That is more important than anything else.