Committee chairman: Thaci’s proposal is political maneuver

BELGRADE Serbian parliament's Committee on Kosovo Chairman Milovan Drecun says that Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci’s draft on Serbs’ rights is just a “political maneuver”. He believes that Pristina is now trying to eliminate the existing Serbian institutions in the north and integrate them into their own institutions by using “transparent diplomatic and political games”. Committee chairman: Thaci’s proposal is political maneuver Drecun told reporters that while Serbia was offering a comprehensive proposal for the solving of the Kosovo issue and requesting a community of the Serb municipalities that would have autonomy, Pristina was trying to impose partial solutions aimed at shutting down the Serbian institutions. “Belgrade will now have to define a response to Thaci’s initiative because it is obvious that he will present it at the next meeting in Brussels and this is an attempt of an ostensible political maneuver that they want to use to accept the existing institutions in the north only to integrate them later and to organize elections only in northern Kosovo through OSCE,” the Committee on Kosovo chairman explained. “In other words, Pristina is trying to close the institutions in a transitional period,” he added. Drecun stated that the fact that Thaci had come up with the proposal showed that Belgrade’s proposal had been positively assessed and that Serbia’s resolution and platform were not just dead letters but that they carried some weight and were accepted by the international community and the EU. When asked what had been agreed at the meeting of top state officials on Wednesday afternoon, he said that he did not know any details of the meeting but that it was obvious that Belgrade’s position ahead of the upcoming meeting in Brussels had been harmonized. Drecun added that the Committee on Kosovo would soon be informed about the meeting and that he expected government’s Office for Kosovo Director Aleksandar Vulin and PM Ivica Dacic to come to a session of the Committee. Thaci said on Wednesday that the Kosovo institutions would accept institutions of education, health and public services systems but that they would not impose their authorities in northern Kosovo. He stated that citizens in the north had the right to choose their own leaders, adding that he would call on OSCE to organize and run the process “so it would be as reliable as possible”. Thaci announced that the Kosovo authorities would present a “positive offer for Serbs in the north so they could integrate into a new Kosovo life, in the future Kosovo parliament and central and local institutions”. Milovan Drecun (Tanjug, file) Tanjug

Committee chairman: Thaci’s proposal is political maneuver

Drecun told reporters that while Serbia was offering a comprehensive proposal for the solving of the Kosovo issue and requesting a community of the Serb municipalities that would have autonomy, Priština was trying to impose partial solutions aimed at shutting down the Serbian institutions.

“Belgrade will now have to define a response to Thaci’s initiative because it is obvious that he will present it at the next meeting in Brussels and this is an attempt of an ostensible political maneuver that they want to use to accept the existing institutions in the north only to integrate them later and to organize elections only in northern Kosovo through OSCE,” the Committee on Kosovo chairman explained.

“In other words, Priština is trying to close the institutions in a transitional period,” he added.

Drecun stated that the fact that Thaci had come up with the proposal showed that Belgrade’s proposal had been positively assessed and that Serbia’s resolution and platform were not just dead letters but that they carried some weight and were accepted by the international community and the EU.

When asked what had been agreed at the meeting of top state officials on Wednesday afternoon, he said that he did not know any details of the meeting but that it was obvious that Belgrade’s position ahead of the upcoming meeting in Brussels had been harmonized.

Drecun added that the Committee on Kosovo would soon be informed about the meeting and that he expected government’s Office for Kosovo Director Aleksandar Vulin and PM Ivica Dačić to come to a session of the Committee.

Thaci said on Wednesday that the Kosovo institutions would accept institutions of education, health and public services systems but that they would not impose their authorities in northern Kosovo.

He stated that citizens in the north had the right to choose their own leaders, adding that he would call on OSCE to organize and run the process “so it would be as reliable as possible”.

Thaci announced that the Kosovo authorities would present a “positive offer for Serbs in the north so they could integrate into a new Kosovo life, in the future Kosovo parliament and central and local institutions”.