PM: State officials demonstrate complete unity

BELGRADE Serbian PM Ivica Dacic said onWednesday that the government unanimously passed two documents on Kosovo but that they would not be presented to the public. “The Serbian government made two decisions today. All decisions were made unanimously, just like all (decisions) we have made since the new government was formed. Full unity was expressed when it comes to the document, an important topic that is an essential issue of our state interests,” he said. PM: State officials demonstrate complete unity He noted that Serbia primarily needed results. “Here, I am now explaining something I did not advocate and you know what I advocate and what I think is the best solution. We need a sustainable solution and platform that will give results,” Dacic said, He recalled that the platform for political talks with representatives of the interim institutions in Pristina had proposed by President Tomislav Nikolic and explained the platform would not be made public because it was not common practice to offer the other side in the talks insight into one's tactics. “The starting point of the draft resolution is that Serbia does not recognize and will not recognize Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, and its main message is that Serbia wants a comprehensive solution and will continue to look for one in a dialogue with the Pristina authorities. The goal of the talks is to create preconditions for the Serb community to grow and become stronger in peace and security,” said the prime minister. “I also want to reiterate that this is not about status talks, we are not talking about the final status of Kosovo and Metohija, the proposal refers to organization and life and the authorities in the territory of Kosovo that are not internationally recognized. Proposals how to organize life and authorities where there are representatives of the Serb community in Kosovo are coming,” he added. Dacic said that the resolution gave the government a permission to continue to implement everything that had been agreed in the dialogue and that future agreements would be reached in accordance with goals laid out in the resolution. “We want a comprehensive solution. The solution should be a bass for full peace for all people in Kosovo and Metohija,” he said. “We will continue political and technical talks in Brussels. The platform of course does not envisage suspension of the dialogue, not a single position of ours will be realized without it. We are not ready to make concessions that lead to endangering of national interests,” the prime minister said and stressed that the new round in the technical talks would be held on Thursday. He said that the taxes, administrative crossings and the issue of citizenship of Kosovo Serbs would be discussed, as well as topics mentioned in the platform. “This is our view and our proposal. There is no part in the platform that says that we will negotiate in accordance with a principle that nothing has been agreed until everything is agreed, which was interpreted as an attempt to stop the dialogue. This is a principle but when you start the negotiations from the beginning but we have entered the second half here and we need to continue,” Dacic said and added that “Kosovo has been given elements of subjectivity that we now cannot dispute and we need to try to save as much as we can”. He said that it would not be any easier to negotiate with the platform because the “situation is very difficult at the moment”. “There is a unity of the parties running the coalition and that is important. I hope that other parties will also see the draft resolution that respects defense of interests and a necessity to continue the dialogue,” Dacic underscored and added that the draft would arrive in parliament by the end of the week, probably on Saturday. “The government will continue the dialogue with Pristina because we don’t have another way out. I wish we could discuss it directly but I want to remind you that the previous government proposed that the dialogue be relocated to the EU. The maneuvering space is such that the government can accept everything that is not contrary to the national and state interests,” he said, adding that a goal was to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks. “We cannot fight if we are outside of the process, I will not accept that our children in 20 years go to the EU when they go the countries of the region, to Albania and we are proud because we do not want to join the EU. It does not matter, it is clear to everyone that the question is whether we can become an EU member but we are now starting to suffer from another kind of schizophrenia that says that we do not want to be EU members. I am not the one whose motto is the EU but common sense tells us that it is both economic and general interest,” Dacic said. The prime minister said that Serbia had made a great concession when it admitted in one document that the Pristina authorities existed. He added "it is a mistake the Kosovo Serbs listened to Belgrade for 13 years and did not build their own kind of autonomy, their own institutions." "This is the first time Belgrade has proposed a solution for the parallelism and paralysis of institutions in Kosovo," Dacic explained. The Serbian government received a tip-off during a joint press conference of the Serbian president and prime minister that a bomb had been planted in the building. However, it was determined that the tip-off had been fake. Ivica Dacic (Tanjug) B92 Tanjug

PM: State officials demonstrate complete unity

He noted that Serbia primarily needed results.

“Here, I am now explaining something I did not advocate and you know what I advocate and what I think is the best solution. We need a sustainable solution and platform that will give results,” Dačić said,

He recalled that the platform for political talks with representatives of the interim institutions in Priština had proposed by President Tomislav Nikolić and explained the platform would not be made public because it was not common practice to offer the other side in the talks insight into one's tactics.

“The starting point of the draft resolution is that Serbia does not recognize and will not recognize Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence, and its main message is that Serbia wants a comprehensive solution and will continue to look for one in a dialogue with the Priština authorities. The goal of the talks is to create preconditions for the Serb community to grow and become stronger in peace and security,” said the prime minister.

“I also want to reiterate that this is not about status talks, we are not talking about the final status of Kosovo and Metohija, the proposal refers to organization and life and the authorities in the territory of Kosovo that are not internationally recognized. Proposals how to organize life and authorities where there are representatives of the Serb community in Kosovo are coming,” he added.

Dačić said that the resolution gave the government a permission to continue to implement everything that had been agreed in the dialogue and that future agreements would be reached in accordance with goals laid out in the resolution.

“We want a comprehensive solution. The solution should be a bass for full peace for all people in Kosovo and Metohija,” he said.

“We will continue political and technical talks in Brussels. The platform of course does not envisage suspension of the dialogue, not a single position of ours will be realized without it. We are not ready to make concessions that lead to endangering of national interests,” the prime minister said and stressed that the new round in the technical talks would be held on Thursday.

He said that the taxes, administrative crossings and the issue of citizenship of Kosovo Serbs would be discussed, as well as topics mentioned in the platform.

“This is our view and our proposal. There is no part in the platform that says that we will negotiate in accordance with a principle that nothing has been agreed until everything is agreed, which was interpreted as an attempt to stop the dialogue. This is a principle but when you start the negotiations from the beginning but we have entered the second half here and we need to continue,” Dačić said and added that “Kosovo has been given elements of subjectivity that we now cannot dispute and we need to try to save as much as we can”.

He said that it would not be any easier to negotiate with the platform because the “situation is very difficult at the moment”.

“There is a unity of the parties running the coalition and that is important. I hope that other parties will also see the draft resolution that respects defense of interests and a necessity to continue the dialogue,” Dačić underscored and added that the draft would arrive in parliament by the end of the week, probably on Saturday.

“The government will continue the dialogue with Priština because we don’t have another way out. I wish we could discuss it directly but I want to remind you that the previous government proposed that the dialogue be relocated to the EU. The maneuvering space is such that the government can accept everything that is not contrary to the national and state interests,” he said, adding that a goal was to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks.

“We cannot fight if we are outside of the process, I will not accept that our children in 20 years go to the EU when they go the countries of the region, to Albania and we are proud because we do not want to join the EU. It does not matter, it is clear to everyone that the question is whether we can become an EU member but we are now starting to suffer from another kind of schizophrenia that says that we do not want to be EU members. I am not the one whose motto is the EU but common sense tells us that it is both economic and general interest,” Dačić said.

The prime minister said that Serbia had made a great concession when it admitted in one document that the Priština authorities existed.

He added "it is a mistake the Kosovo Serbs listened to Belgrade for 13 years and did not build their own kind of autonomy, their own institutions."

"This is the first time Belgrade has proposed a solution for the parallelism and paralysis of institutions in Kosovo," Dačić explained.

The Serbian government received a tip-off during a joint press conference of the Serbian president and prime minister that a bomb had been planted in the building. However, it was determined that the tip-off had been fake.