Belgrade rejects succession principle

Belgrade rejects succession principle

“Belgrade rejected the succession principle by proposing amendments claiming that such a principle cannot automatically apply. We believe we’ve proven our point in the discussion. Now we will wait and see”, Popović said.

He also said that the two sides talked over the issue of international debt and public owned companies in Kosovo, where “our opinions differ to a large extent”.

“We’ve insisted on the principle that the debt should be apportioned to the side which gathers taxes from its end users”, Popović concluded. Skender Hiseni, Albanian negotiating team member in charge of economic issues, said that this morning’s talks on the economic aspects of Ahtisaari’s plan hardly led to any compromise. "Serbia bluntly rejected the sucession principle from Ahtisaari's document. The Albanian side mostly agrees with the economic portion of the status plan, and will only try to make it more precise and functional", Hiseni said.

He added that the Priština delegation agreed that Kosovo should take over a portion of the international debt in a manner yet to be defined in collaboration with Belgrade following the status settlement. Priština’s position thus resembles the elements of UN Envoy’s plan.

Hiseni added that the issue of Kosovo’s portion of debt was related with the succession of SFRY assets.

“We will certainly engage into the succession process following the status settlement. The process will surely be in line with the Agreement on Succession of SFRY assets signed in 2001. ”, Hiseni said.

No headway made Thursday

On the second day of talks, negotiating teams from Belgrade and Priština talked over the annexes of UN Envoy’s plan outlining constitutional provisions, the rights of ethnic communities in Kosovo and the judicial system.

However, Belgrade’s proposal to create a Serbian entity in Kosovo was the highlight of yesterday’s talks.

According to the Belgrade team, the provision of Ahtisaari’s document pertaining to the prevalently Serb populated municipalities in Kosovo should be amended as follows: “municipalities with Serbian majority shall be able to form an entity so as to secure effective protection of their rights and entitlements and jointly advocate the interests of Serbs in Kosovo”.

Belgrade team coordinator told the press yesterday that the concept of a Serbian entity would entail privileged rights of municipalities with Serbian majority, their mutual connection and association with Belgrade, preservation of the Serb church and cultural heritage.

“We have explained that our concept doesn’t involve a separated level of authority, but a firm co-operation of Serbian municipalities in securing interests of the Serbs in Kosovo”, he said.

Priština team leader Veton Surroi overtly reject the concept.