Koštunica says DSS is against NATO membership

Prime Minister and DSS leader Vojislav Kostunica said Saturday his party opposes Serbia’s NATO membership. Speaking at the session of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Main Board in Belgrade, Kostunica said that the party’s "principled position exceeds the framework of the relations with the Alliance pertaining to Kosovo’s status settlement process." Kostunica says DSS is against NATO membership “Our standing is primarily founded on a belief that Serbia should remain militarily neutral and that our state and national interests require an absence of membership in any military alliance." "What is more, there are no contradictions between being a signatory of the Partnership for Peace Program and refusing to join NATO,” he said. “I am talking about the difference between preserving the liberty to make decisions and take action on one side, and being deprived of that liberty on the other,” explained Kostunica. He stressed that NATO illegally bombed Serbia, that its troops came to Kosovo and that UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan unambiguously envisioned power without any limits for the Alliance in the province. “I believe that the DSS has an obligation to initiate a public debate so as to point to the genuine meaning of the implementation of Annex 11 of Ahtisaari’s plan. How to name a structure in which NATO has unlimited power but ‘a NATO state’,” wondered the Serbian prime minister. He added that, during preparations of Serbia’s response to a possible recognition of Kosovo's unilaterally proclaimed independence on the part of the U.S. and other western states, taking a clear stand towards NATO and its role in the project could not be avoided. “If the threats come to being, and prominent NATO members acknowledge independence proclaimed unilaterally, the question of Serbia’s NATO prospects would, as far as the DSS is concerned, be not only of the political but of the moral nature as well,” Kostunica said. “How can it be possible for Serbia to join a military alliance that first bombed it, and then sent its troops to Kosovo circumventing the UN Security Council, only to recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence of an integral part of Serbia,” Kostunica told his party's main board. Vojislav Kostunica (FoNet)

Koštunica says DSS is against NATO membership

“Our standing is primarily founded on a belief that Serbia should remain militarily neutral and that our state and national interests require an absence of membership in any military alliance."

"What is more, there are no contradictions between being a signatory of the Partnership for Peace Program and refusing to join NATO,” he said.

“I am talking about the difference between preserving the liberty to make decisions and take action on one side, and being deprived of that liberty on the other,” explained Koštunica.

He stressed that NATO illegally bombed Serbia, that its troops came to Kosovo and that UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan unambiguously envisioned power without any limits for the Alliance in the province.

“I believe that the DSS has an obligation to initiate a public debate so as to point to the genuine meaning of the implementation of Annex 11 of Ahtisaari’s plan. How to name a structure in which NATO has unlimited power but ‘a NATO state’,” wondered the Serbian prime minister.

He added that, during preparations of Serbia’s response to a possible recognition of Kosovo's unilaterally proclaimed independence on the part of the U.S. and other western states, taking a clear stand towards NATO and its role in the project could not be avoided.

“If the threats come to being, and prominent NATO members acknowledge independence proclaimed unilaterally, the question of Serbia’s NATO prospects would, as far as the DSS is concerned, be not only of the political but of the moral nature as well,” Koštunica said.

“How can it be possible for Serbia to join a military alliance that first bombed it, and then sent its troops to Kosovo circumventing the UN Security Council, only to recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence of an integral part of Serbia,” Koštunica told his party's main board.