SAA could be signed Tuesday

So there you have it, before the DS lose power they are prepared to sell Kosovo and permit the deployment of the EU force.

Signing the SAA offers nothing whatsoever to Serbia. The conditions still remain and it does not come into force until those conditions are met. Therefore, it is a dud deal and all the DS are doing is putting a signature on a piece of paper, which the EU is desperate to get and they will interpret it as a green light to snatch Kosovo away.

This will make it ever more difficult for Serbia to protect its province and could even lead to conflict, but do the DS care? Of course not, they will be paid handsomely while in opposition.

Well done DS, the Albanians will be supporting you all the way!

Very nice as a symbolic gesture, but what about the nuts and bolts. What does it say about Serbia's territorial integrity, schengen, economic assistance, return of property in Krajina, Kosovo etc., what does it REALLY do for us. Please explain B92.

tadic should have singed saa on 17 february :)) but you cant expect the likes of tadic to be that honest. or simply honest.
anyway i hope he will enjoy his figurehead mandate while dss-srs coalition rules serbia. also, he might get recalled.
anyway solana said he will sleep with an easy conscience on may 12 only if he does all he can to help tadic's party win and start dismemberment of serbia.
fancy sleeping easy at all, with 88 serbian children killed in the nato bombing in 1999. how everything, saa, tadic, solana, pales in comparison to their deaths.

Don't do it, Please do NOT do it

as nr.1 dr. kostunica already said: the very "own" opinions that holland and belgium have (at least today and maybe even the next hour or tomorrow) don´t matter in any way.

delic can sign the ssp or the weather forecast, it´s up to serbia!

It is very unlikely that signing the SAA will be the golden bullet for Serbia's political mischiefs and internal political problems. Historically, Europe has always been too soft on Serbia and too hard on Albania. For those that reject this notion, they have to understand that the blessing of Kosova's independence by majority of Europe was not a gift to K-Albanians or even less to Albanian nation for that matter but rather an act of measure to secure long term stability for Europe itself. Although offering SAA to Serbia is an act of pragmatism it's still very unfair to other western ballkan nations that are going through all the hoops to meet the conditions put forward by EU. EU hopes that it can influence Serbia to change. This is very utopic, as one can see that Serbs themselves don't really appreciate or prefer being within EU. Serbia needs to go to the bottom, just like when Milosevic was overthrown and the balance shifted towards democratic forces. Those times were soon forgotten and Serbia plunged again into its dark nationalist sentiments with the assassination of Dinjic. If radicals win, it will be a call for awake to Serbs themselves. Radicals will be met with failures on all the fronts and will be precisely these failures that will set the stage for democratic forces to take the reign of government again.

“Serbia will not recognize that signature, and the new government and parliament will reject that agreement.”
-

Of course, patriotic Serbians will spit on it!
The DS of Tadic has to live after the elections, thus the signing and the pocketing of commissions...

What treachery, what double standards?

Question: does the Serbian constitution contain provisions for impeachment/recall of the President? Is some overwhelming majority (like the 2/3 vote of the US Senate) necessary for removal? Certainly, the grounds for the removal of Tadic will be established with his signature. Personally, I see the signing as a symbolic, rather than material capitulation; it does not really harm Serbia and does not address the issue of Kosovo. It is a capitulation non-the-less and will hurt Tadic and the DS politically. Indeed, the Serbia ruled by the Radicals and the DSS might actually benefit from the agreement without paying the moral and political cost of capitulation. This could actually prove the be a positive scenario all around!

Well done Serbia. Signing the SAA will offer benefits in trade and more importantly signal Serbia's EU future.

It will also give Serbia increased respect in Europe.

Sign the agreement and make the step towards EU membership.

Ataman
Me again, I just came back from the Easter vacation so I feel like writing a little more:)
The Schengen idea is not bad, but we all have to know and speak the truth, there is no EU or moreover Schengen for Serbia with Kosovo. The first thing they will ask it will be "Where is the border?"
That's the whole drama, everybody wants Serbia in the EU, even Russia in my opinion, but where is the border?
I think SAA is a good thing for Serbia for the moment if it does not imply any concession on kosovo, but for the rest I think that nobody has the right to tell Serbia to give up Kosovo for EU. I am still trying to find an answer what I would do if I would be a serbian voter, but still i do not find the answer.

great Serbian comedy! in final act even Mladic might show up to hold a speech about integrity and honour. who knows, there is always " a small chance" for thing never happen. fact is: final curtain falls on 15th of June. SAA is the topic of 16th of June, then the new government will have a chance to decide. until then ...

1) The E.U. is of course evil.
2) So far, this is the best what was invented in Europe since the fall of Roman Empire.

What to do than, is a tough question and I can't answer it. One is for sure: signing SAA very soon will be a huge defeat for Albanian separatists. But they will be obliterated at the moment Serbia would join Schengen (= no physical borders with most E.U. countries).

Serbia joining E.U. is also a Russian dream come true. Russia because of it's size can't join E.U. Best friend within E.U. opposing anti-Russian sentiment is the right answer to many problems.

Sometimes heroic fight is less glorious than diplomacy. Romania won WW-I and more than doubled their territory rather with diplomacy, much less with military.

I don't understand the rush. A signature now is going to mean nothing following the May elections, or the July elections or the October elections etc. Who asks an unstable country to sign a "Stabilization" agreement.

Yes taking kosovo was unfair as was the nato bombing, and crimes against serbs throughout the balkan conflict were passed over by most of the media. That said, dont kid yourself....a radical government will not protect serbia, it will destroy it. The west will renew the war of attrition against you and your people will suffer. The Eastern powers are geographically too far away to help and have too many problems of their own. Please wake up and vote for where you live-Europe. I hope the SAA is signed and I hope those who live in Serbia will not listen to the militant diaspora loudmouths who are so brave sitting in the western luxury praising Uncle D...Good luck

I don't know the workings of the Serbian parliament. But if it follows the standard international practic whereby agreements signed by its leaders must be ratified in parliament before it becomes binding, then no worries for Kostunica and the radicals. They can always refuse to ratify the SAA when they vote against ratification -- I am speculating here on this of course -- but I have been reading projections which show that the DSS and Radicals together are expected to get over half the seats which should be enough to override any signature on the SAA.

fancy sleeping easy at all, with 88 serbian children killed in the nato bombing in 1999. how everything, saa, tadic, solana, pales in comparison to their deaths.
(smile, 28 April 2008 18:06)

smile, I consider it as a real shame if you or anyone else is using such arguments in year 2008. as an EU citizen I regret everyone who had to die during etnical conflicts in your homeland. Serbs had the choice to avoid most of their deaths - you know that. please ask those for foregiveness who were victims because of this - or you disgrace all victims.

at all, the EU could exist quite easily without offering to Serbia the SAA for several weeks more. first the next government should find a plan how to avoid economical slow down ... Europe paid enough, the result we see in comments like yours.

Ataman, 28 April 2008 20:26)

Though I agree with you that diplomacy is much a better way than military action, I have to strongly disagree with you on your simple view of "Romania won WW-I and more than doubled their territory rather with diplomacy, much less with military".
In WW1 Romania faced extermination as a country and as a nation if the other side would have won, like Serbia also. Look also why Romania joined the war, in which conditions and mind you that the "russian friends" signed a certain Brest-Litovsk peace, leaving everybody in the eastern front surrounded.
So in the end diplomacy paid off cause it was supported by the fact that the King and Queen always insisted on fighting till the end, though the odds to win seemed many times to be inexistent.

I think that the way that Kosovo declared unilateral independence, and the way international law was ignored when recongnising it is unacceptable, but still, trying to prove your position by staying away from the EU you won't get anywhere, staying isolated won't help, letting the people know how great your country and your people are will only come from getting closer to them, not by showing your rejection to everything that sounds EU. It's true that serbia has been mistreated, and the only way to show it to people is to join them and make them see this, the opposite will only worsen things.

Is this signing of SAA a commedy or the ultimate act of desesperation of a group of people who feel they are losing their grip on Serbia?
Signing in whose name?
There is no legal Government or Parliament in Serbia at the moment and elections are just around the corner.
They know damn well that the emerging Government is going to cancell that embarassing nonsense with their first stroke of the pen.
The only valid interpretation of this ludicrous performance would be as the last ditch attempt to fool Serbian Electorate: "we have already put Serbia in the EU and that it is up to you Serbs to keep Serbia there". Someone may,hopefully, fall for that.
This is what used to be called in Serbian- a Hohstapleray'

This irresponsible act is yet another reason that these charlatans have to get off Serbia's back-urgently.
We certainly have no future whatsoever if led by this crowd.

It is very unlikely that signing the SAA will be the golden bullet for Serbia's political mischiefs and internal political problems. Historically, Europe has always been too soft on Serbia and too hard on Albania. For those that reject this notion, they have to understand that the blessing of Kosova's independence by majority of Europe was not a gift to K-Albanians or even less to Albanian nation for that matter but rather an act of measure to secure long term stability for Europe itself. Although offering SAA to Serbia is an act of pragmatism it's still very unfair to other western ballkan nations that are going through all the hoops to meet the conditions put forward by EU. EU hopes that it can influence Serbia to change. This is very utopic, as one can see that Serbs themselves don't really appreciate or prefer being within EU. Serbia needs to go to the bottom, just like when Milosevic was overthrown and the balance shifted towards democratic forces. Those times were soon forgotten and Serbia plunged again into its dark nationalist sentiments with the assassination of Dinjic. If radicals win, it will be a call for awake to Serbs themselves. Radicals will be met with failures on all the fronts and will be precisely these failures that will set the stage for democratic forces to take the reign of government again.

great Serbian comedy! in final act even Mladic might show up to hold a speech about integrity and honour. who knows, there is always " a small chance" for thing never happen. fact is: final curtain falls on 15th of June. SAA is the topic of 16th of June, then the new government will have a chance to decide. until then ...

Well done Serbia. Signing the SAA will offer benefits in trade and more importantly signal Serbia's EU future.

It will also give Serbia increased respect in Europe.

Sign the agreement and make the step towards EU membership.

1) The E.U. is of course evil.
2) So far, this is the best what was invented in Europe since the fall of Roman Empire.

What to do than, is a tough question and I can't answer it. One is for sure: signing SAA very soon will be a huge defeat for Albanian separatists. But they will be obliterated at the moment Serbia would join Schengen (= no physical borders with most E.U. countries).

Serbia joining E.U. is also a Russian dream come true. Russia because of it's size can't join E.U. Best friend within E.U. opposing anti-Russian sentiment is the right answer to many problems.

Sometimes heroic fight is less glorious than diplomacy. Romania won WW-I and more than doubled their territory rather with diplomacy, much less with military.

fancy sleeping easy at all, with 88 serbian children killed in the nato bombing in 1999. how everything, saa, tadic, solana, pales in comparison to their deaths.
(smile, 28 April 2008 18:06)

smile, I consider it as a real shame if you or anyone else is using such arguments in year 2008. as an EU citizen I regret everyone who had to die during etnical conflicts in your homeland. Serbs had the choice to avoid most of their deaths - you know that. please ask those for foregiveness who were victims because of this - or you disgrace all victims.

at all, the EU could exist quite easily without offering to Serbia the SAA for several weeks more. first the next government should find a plan how to avoid economical slow down ... Europe paid enough, the result we see in comments like yours.

So there you have it, before the DS lose power they are prepared to sell Kosovo and permit the deployment of the EU force.

Signing the SAA offers nothing whatsoever to Serbia. The conditions still remain and it does not come into force until those conditions are met. Therefore, it is a dud deal and all the DS are doing is putting a signature on a piece of paper, which the EU is desperate to get and they will interpret it as a green light to snatch Kosovo away.

This will make it ever more difficult for Serbia to protect its province and could even lead to conflict, but do the DS care? Of course not, they will be paid handsomely while in opposition.

Well done DS, the Albanians will be supporting you all the way!

as nr.1 dr. kostunica already said: the very "own" opinions that holland and belgium have (at least today and maybe even the next hour or tomorrow) don´t matter in any way.

delic can sign the ssp or the weather forecast, it´s up to serbia!

Very nice as a symbolic gesture, but what about the nuts and bolts. What does it say about Serbia's territorial integrity, schengen, economic assistance, return of property in Krajina, Kosovo etc., what does it REALLY do for us. Please explain B92.

Don't do it, Please do NOT do it

tadic should have singed saa on 17 february :)) but you cant expect the likes of tadic to be that honest. or simply honest.
anyway i hope he will enjoy his figurehead mandate while dss-srs coalition rules serbia. also, he might get recalled.
anyway solana said he will sleep with an easy conscience on may 12 only if he does all he can to help tadic's party win and start dismemberment of serbia.
fancy sleeping easy at all, with 88 serbian children killed in the nato bombing in 1999. how everything, saa, tadic, solana, pales in comparison to their deaths.

Question: does the Serbian constitution contain provisions for impeachment/recall of the President? Is some overwhelming majority (like the 2/3 vote of the US Senate) necessary for removal? Certainly, the grounds for the removal of Tadic will be established with his signature. Personally, I see the signing as a symbolic, rather than material capitulation; it does not really harm Serbia and does not address the issue of Kosovo. It is a capitulation non-the-less and will hurt Tadic and the DS politically. Indeed, the Serbia ruled by the Radicals and the DSS might actually benefit from the agreement without paying the moral and political cost of capitulation. This could actually prove the be a positive scenario all around!

“Serbia will not recognize that signature, and the new government and parliament will reject that agreement.”
-

Of course, patriotic Serbians will spit on it!
The DS of Tadic has to live after the elections, thus the signing and the pocketing of commissions...

What treachery, what double standards?

Ataman, 28 April 2008 20:26)

Though I agree with you that diplomacy is much a better way than military action, I have to strongly disagree with you on your simple view of "Romania won WW-I and more than doubled their territory rather with diplomacy, much less with military".
In WW1 Romania faced extermination as a country and as a nation if the other side would have won, like Serbia also. Look also why Romania joined the war, in which conditions and mind you that the "russian friends" signed a certain Brest-Litovsk peace, leaving everybody in the eastern front surrounded.
So in the end diplomacy paid off cause it was supported by the fact that the King and Queen always insisted on fighting till the end, though the odds to win seemed many times to be inexistent.

Ataman
Me again, I just came back from the Easter vacation so I feel like writing a little more:)
The Schengen idea is not bad, but we all have to know and speak the truth, there is no EU or moreover Schengen for Serbia with Kosovo. The first thing they will ask it will be "Where is the border?"
That's the whole drama, everybody wants Serbia in the EU, even Russia in my opinion, but where is the border?
I think SAA is a good thing for Serbia for the moment if it does not imply any concession on kosovo, but for the rest I think that nobody has the right to tell Serbia to give up Kosovo for EU. I am still trying to find an answer what I would do if I would be a serbian voter, but still i do not find the answer.

Yes taking kosovo was unfair as was the nato bombing, and crimes against serbs throughout the balkan conflict were passed over by most of the media. That said, dont kid yourself....a radical government will not protect serbia, it will destroy it. The west will renew the war of attrition against you and your people will suffer. The Eastern powers are geographically too far away to help and have too many problems of their own. Please wake up and vote for where you live-Europe. I hope the SAA is signed and I hope those who live in Serbia will not listen to the militant diaspora loudmouths who are so brave sitting in the western luxury praising Uncle D...Good luck

I think that the way that Kosovo declared unilateral independence, and the way international law was ignored when recongnising it is unacceptable, but still, trying to prove your position by staying away from the EU you won't get anywhere, staying isolated won't help, letting the people know how great your country and your people are will only come from getting closer to them, not by showing your rejection to everything that sounds EU. It's true that serbia has been mistreated, and the only way to show it to people is to join them and make them see this, the opposite will only worsen things.

I don't know the workings of the Serbian parliament. But if it follows the standard international practic whereby agreements signed by its leaders must be ratified in parliament before it becomes binding, then no worries for Kostunica and the radicals. They can always refuse to ratify the SAA when they vote against ratification -- I am speculating here on this of course -- but I have been reading projections which show that the DSS and Radicals together are expected to get over half the seats which should be enough to override any signature on the SAA.

I don't understand the rush. A signature now is going to mean nothing following the May elections, or the July elections or the October elections etc. Who asks an unstable country to sign a "Stabilization" agreement.

Is this signing of SAA a commedy or the ultimate act of desesperation of a group of people who feel they are losing their grip on Serbia?
Signing in whose name?
There is no legal Government or Parliament in Serbia at the moment and elections are just around the corner.
They know damn well that the emerging Government is going to cancell that embarassing nonsense with their first stroke of the pen.
The only valid interpretation of this ludicrous performance would be as the last ditch attempt to fool Serbian Electorate: "we have already put Serbia in the EU and that it is up to you Serbs to keep Serbia there". Someone may,hopefully, fall for that.
This is what used to be called in Serbian- a Hohstapleray'

This irresponsible act is yet another reason that these charlatans have to get off Serbia's back-urgently.
We certainly have no future whatsoever if led by this crowd.