Dulić reaffirms Kosovo stance in Ljubljana

Dulić reaffirms Kosovo stance in Ljubljana

At a joint news conference following the meeting, he said that Serbian and Slovenian parliament did not have a history of cooperation, stressing that it was the first time the Serbian parliamentary delegation visited Slovenia.

Cukjati suggested an initiative to establish collaboration among parliaments of the states that used to belong to the SFRY.

The two also discussed the issue of the future status of Kosovo. Dulić reiterated Serbian Parliament’s stance on the issue, citing parts of the draft resolution lawmakers would discuss on July 24.

“We will demand from the international community to respect the international law, Serbia’s right to sovereignty and territorially integrity, and to launch negotiations that would lead to a solution acceptable to both sides.”

He added that at present there were several positions over Kosovo within the international community.

“What I said to Cukjati is that Slovenia, even though a UN member, cannot share the same position or have the same sentiment on the matter as, for example, Sweden, Norway or Ireland,” Dulić stressed.

“Slovenia used to be a part of a state that also faced problems in Kosovo, and has to acknowledge and understand that these problems are several centuries old and require a sensitive approach,” he said.

Speaking of Serbia’s European integrations, Dulić said that Serbia can solve many of its problems by looking up to Slovenia.

“What Serbia needs is to speed up the integration process and not waste a day or repeat mistakes that some countries made along the way.”

Dulić voiced hope that Serbia might acquire an EU membership candidate status during Slovenian presidency over the European Union set to begin on January 1, 2008.

Later today, Dulić will also talk to Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.

Meantime, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić will pay a visit to Portugal Thursday.

Jeremić’s next stop on his EU tour is Portugal, the country that currently holds a six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.

He spent Thursday in Madrid, Spain, where he held meetings with top Spanish officials and gave a lecture at the Madrid headquarters of the European Commission delegation.

Jeremić said on the occasion that “consolidation of democracy in Serbia should be one of the basic principles for the resolution of Kosovo status, since Serbia could speed up the EU accession of the entire region provided it was not given a fatal blow by imposing the independence of Kosovo.”