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EU on implementation of Agreement with Serbia |
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July 23, 2008
At the meeting in Brussels, most ambassadors of the EU countries requested immediate implementation of the Transitional Trade Agreement with Serbia, but France as a chair managed to schedule this for discussion at the next session on July 29 – Serbian agencies report quoting diplomatic sources in the EU seat in Brussels. As stated, implementation of the Agreement was requested with the explanation that by arresting Radovan Karadzic, the new pro-European Serbian Government made a turning point in cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. Agencies report that this position was mostly supported by Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Cypress and Romania, and that EU High Representative Javier Solana supported the idea as well. However, adoption of the decision was prevented by the EU Council of Ministers Chair and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kushner, who, with the support of the Netherlands, managed to impose the position to discuss further relations with Serbia at the new session on July 29 following consultations with Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz . |
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Frattini: Urgent implementation of Provisional EU-Serbia Agreement |
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July 23, 2008
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini requested urgent implementation of the Provisional Trade Agreement between the EU and Serbia as a fast and positive response to the arrest of Radovan Karadzic through which the Serbian Government showed determination for European integration. By arresting the most wanted Hague indictee, Belgrade authorities provided clear political confirmation that the EU must react upon immediately, as any other position would represent a big political and strategic mistake, said Frattini. He emphasized that after the latest developments the process of Serbia’s EU integration should develop in big steps. The EU must not isolate countries achieving results, and the arrest of Karadzic is a big result – Frattini said. |
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Jeremic: Serbia counts on French support |
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July 23, 2008
Serbia counts on the French support trusting that it will acquire an EU candidate status by the end of this year – Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic stated for the Paris Mond. He emphasized that the arrest of Radovan Karadzic clearly shows that the new pro-European Government in Serbia very seriously takes international obligations. Jeremic said that tomorrow he will propose that the Government sends ambassadors and diplomats back to the EU countries that recognized self-proclaimed Kosovo independence. The Minister stated that the top two priorities of the Serbian foreign policy are continued European integration and further diplomatic fight aimed at protection of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity in Kosovo. Jeremic said that Belgrade authorities are preparing the draft resolution for the UN General Assembly session in September by which it will be requested of the Assembly to request from the International Court of Justice in the Hague decision on legality of proclamation and recognition of independence of the southern Serbian province. |
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Tadic with Kiprianu |
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July 23, 2008
Serbian President Boris Tadic and Cyprian Foreign Minister Markos Kiprianu confirmed in Belgrade a joint position of the two countries that the work of the EU Mission in Kosmet must be agreed to by Belgrade, with full respect to Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and confirmed in the UN SC. Tadic pledged for commencement of a dialogue with the UN on reconfiguration of international presence in Kosovo, the Presidential Press Office communicated. He stated that the Serbian strategy is to request an opinion of the International Court of Justice through the UN institutions on legality of Kosovo’s independence, saying that it would be clear legal formulation for all countries still considering what to do, as well as those who already recognized illegal independence. Tadic extended gratefulness to Cypress for observing international law, and especially for supporting Serbia in preserving territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as its European integration. Tadic assessed that the arrest of Hague indictee Radovan Karadzic is a result of the fact that new authorities in Belgrade observe international law and the Serbian laws, and that responsibility of individuals must be determined for crimes committed in the territory of former Yugoslavia. The Hague Tribunal must impartially try the war crime indictees regardless of their nationality and religion, Tadic pointed out. |
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Nine years since the murder of nine Serb harvesters in Staro Gracko |
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23 July 2008.
The memorial service in the center of the Staro Gracko village near Lipljan has marked the 9th anniversary since the demise of 14 Serb harvesters, who were murdered on their fields, and perpetrators of that crime have not been discovered yet. Episcope of Raska and Prizren Artemije has said after the service that Serbs who have stayed in Staro Gracko have achieved the greatest victory over those who had killed 14 of their neighbors. President of the Coordination Center for Kosmet Zvonimir Stevic has stated that the organizers and perpetrators of that crime must be punished, in order to create the conditions for the continuation of cohabitation between Serbs and Albanians. Stevic reminded that the bloody massacre of 14 harvesters in Staro Gracko was one of the most brutal crimes in Kosmet, since the arrival of UNMIK and KFOR. |
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Start of negotiations on UNMIK reconfiguration |
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23 July 2008.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Minister of Kosmet Goran Bogdanovic have agreed in Belgrade with UNMIM Head Lamberto Zanier to start the negotiations on the reshaping of the international mission in the Province. Zanier has conveyed to Jeremic and Bogdanovic that UNMIK will be working on the base of full status neutrality and only under the mandate of the Resolution 1244, communicated the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Serbian ministers have repeated Government’s stance that the reconfiguration of the international civilian presence in Kosmet must be run in accordance with the Resolution 1244 and with the approval of the Security Council. Jeremic and Bogdanovic have again expressed dissatisfaction over the unilateral move of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his attempt to begin the reconfiguration without the decision of the Security Council. It has been arranged to soon discuss the functioning of the judiciary and police in Kosmet. |
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State Department congratulated Serbian authorities |
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23 July 2008. 14:28 The US State Department has congratulated the Serbian authorities for the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, while stressing that it is a sign of new Serbian Government’s wish to fully cooperate with the Hague Tribunal and go towards the Euro-Atlantic future. State Department Spokesperson Diego Gallegos told the press conference that he has no information of USA helping the Serbian Government to realize the arrest. At the same time, US Ambassador for War Crime Issues Clint Williamson has said that Karadzic’s arrest should worry former military commander of Bosnian Serbs Ratko Mladic, who is still at large. Williamson told the Voice of America that the turning-point in the Karadzic case was obviously the establishing of the new, pro-western government in Belgrade, for which he says that it will profit form this arrest. |
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Jaksic assessed Daniel Fried’s statement as reverse |
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23 July 2008. 14:21 Vice President of the Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosmet Marko Jaksic has assessed as reversed the statement of Assistant US State Secretary for Europe Daniel Fried, who had said that the international community needs to take over the control in the north of Kosmet as soon as possible. I believe that this is a statement in attempt to make the northern part of the Province join the so-called independent Kosmet, said Jaksic. He pointed out that in northern Kosmet the institutions of the Serbian state are functioning as legitimate, and that there is no lawlessness there. On the previous day, Fried had stated that USA believes that the international community should at the soonest establish the lost control over the northern Kosmet, with the majority Serb population. |
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Vekaric: Karadzic could go to The Hague this weekend |
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23 July 2008. 13:59 Former President of the Republic of Srpska Radovan Karadzic could be extradited to the Hague Tribunal as soon as this weekend, Serbian War Crimes Prosecution Spokesperson Bruno Vekaric has confirmed for the TANJUG agency. He stated that the exact date cannot be specified, since it depends on the deadlines regarding the appeal on the decision regarding the meeting of conditions for Karadzic’s extradition to the Tribunal, as his lawyer Svetozar Vujacic has announced. The decision on that appeal should be passed by the Trial Chamber of the Belgrade District Court within three days since it has been filed, Vekaric reminded, adding that the final decision on the extradition will be signed by the Ministry of Justice. |
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Cvetkovic with Kiprianu: resolving Kosmet status through dialog |
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23 July 2008. 13:53 Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic has thanked Cyprian Foreign Minister Markos Kiprianu for the principled position of Cyprus, regarding the decision to not recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosmet, as well as for the support to Serbia on its road to the European integrations. During the talks in Belgrade, Kiprianu has pointed out that Serbia belong to the EU and that the new Serbian Government has made a significant step in the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, communicated the Government’s Office of Media Relations. The Cyprian minister has emphasized that his country believes that the Kosmet status must be resolved through the dialog, with the consent of Serbia and within the UN framework. |
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