NATO chief reiterates support for Ahtisaari

NATO chief reiterates support for Ahtisaari

“I came here today with a very positive attitude, knowing that, although NATO member states have no direct political role in it, Kosovo status remains a difficult problem,” De Hoop Scheffer said.

After meeting Serbia’s outgoing foreign minister Vuk Drašković, De Hoop Scheffer said Partnership for Peace membership did not mean Serbia’s full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal had been sidelined.

"That is still an extremely important element," De Hoop Scheffer said. "The position of the allies is that as soon as possible, rather today than tomorrow, the ones who are indicted for the different crimes should be at the tribunal."

De Hoop Scheffer told journalists that he and defense minister Zoran Stanković discussed Serbia’s cooperation with NATO, adding he wished to “compliment the minister and his staff for their work in this necessary phase of the armed forces’ reform.”

Stanković said his ministry cooperated with the ministry of foreign affairs to prepare a Presentation document, the basis for the cooperation between Serbia and NATO, but that the adoption of the document must be postponed until the new government was in place.

“The defense ministry and the Serbian Army will reaffirm their credibility as partners through a constructive approach to two burning issues: Kosovo status and the Hague cooperation,” Stranković said.

Stanković welcomed De Hoop Scheffer’s announcement that NATO would not decrease the number of troop in the province, as well as that it remained alert and ready to deal decisively with any attempt of destabilization.

Koštunica, Tadić meet De Hoop Scheffer

A government statement said prime minister Vojislav Koštunica met with NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, pointing to the UN special Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s mandate as authorizing him to “seek a compromise solution for Kosovo’s future status, rather than open up the issue of Serbia’s statehood status.”

Koštunica described the Belgrade negotiating team participation in the Vienna talks as constructive and representative of the Serbian parliament resolution “clearly rejecting” Ahtisaari’s plan where it infringes on the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the statement issued after the meeting read.

After his meeting with the NATO chief, president Boris Tadić said he expected the Alliance to provide absolute safety for the Serbs in Kosovo.

Tadić said the European and Atlantic integration processes were intertwined, voicing hope that Serbia will complete the defense reforms by the time NATO undertakes another round of enlargement in 2010.

At a summit last year in Riga, NATO decided to admit Serbia into the Partnership for Peace program in a sign of support for the pro-Western Serb leaders.

"I have invested a lot of personal political capital in this decision," De Hoop Scheffer said.

"I think that we are investing a lot in each other as we speak," he said, and described Serbia as "an important player, if not the most important player, in the region."