“Serbia ready to drop charges against Croatia”

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said that Serbia is prepared to drop its genocide charges against Croatia. He said that if an agreement is reached for the genocide charges filed by Serbia and Croatia against one another to be mutually and unconditional dropped, Serbia is prepared to do so. “Serbia ready to drop charges against Croatia” Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said that only the Croatian government could decide to drop the genocide charges before the International Court of Justice that were filed against Serbia, but that the government has yet to discuss such a possibility. “I can give you the stance of the Serbian side, and that is that we are prepared to drop our suit, of course, if an agreement is reached for us to drop the suits at the same time, without any added conditions,” Cvetkovic said. Kosor was less direct in her answer. “I feel the same way and I am speaking in the name of the Croatian government that it is important to clearly stand against the crimes of Milosevic’s politics, the evil of these policies, which were policies of an aggressor towards everyone, and that is not a bilateral question for the Croatian government,” Kosor said. Cvetkovic said that all problems have not been solved between the two countries, but that the will exists to solve them in the interest of both sides. Belgrade is content with the fact that Zagreb has made excellent progress on its path of European integration, he said. “We are content that Croatia is reaching the end of that road and we are using its experience, whether it is advice or any kind of support, such as what you just saw with the translations,” he said. Kosor also gave Cvetkovic on Friday translations of documents necessary for EU accession. These documents, worth about EUR 8mn, were supposed to be given to Serbian officials at the recently held regional meeting in Slovenia, which Belgrade officials refused to attend because of the presence of Kosovo Albanian representatives. The two prime ministers also discussed intensifying economic cooperation, the search for missing persons, solving refugee-related questions, speeding up the succession process, and solving border disputes. Mirko Cvetkovic and Jadranka Kosor (Tanjug)

“Serbia ready to drop charges against Croatia”

Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said that only the Croatian government could decide to drop the genocide charges before the International Court of Justice that were filed against Serbia, but that the government has yet to discuss such a possibility.

“I can give you the stance of the Serbian side, and that is that we are prepared to drop our suit, of course, if an agreement is reached for us to drop the suits at the same time, without any added conditions,” Cvetković said.

Kosor was less direct in her answer.

“I feel the same way and I am speaking in the name of the Croatian government that it is important to clearly stand against the crimes of Milošević’s politics, the evil of these policies, which were policies of an aggressor towards everyone, and that is not a bilateral question for the Croatian government,” Kosor said.

Cvetković said that all problems have not been solved between the two countries, but that the will exists to solve them in the interest of both sides. Belgrade is content with the fact that Zagreb has made excellent progress on its path of European integration, he said.

“We are content that Croatia is reaching the end of that road and we are using its experience, whether it is advice or any kind of support, such as what you just saw with the translations,” he said.

Kosor also gave Cvetković on Friday translations of documents necessary for EU accession.

These documents, worth about EUR 8mn, were supposed to be given to Serbian officials at the recently held regional meeting in Slovenia, which Belgrade officials refused to attend because of the presence of Kosovo Albanian representatives.

The two prime ministers also discussed intensifying economic cooperation, the search for missing persons, solving refugee-related questions, speeding up the succession process, and solving border disputes.