Expert: Changes to SAA bad for Serbia

Who was this expert paid off by? the DS? How many other countries had to relinguish their territory to become members of the EU? How many countries in the world have fought wars only to keep one inch of their territory, but I guess for Serbia, their land means nothing to them. I am not a politician and consider myself totally ignorant, but if I can see this hypocrisy, lies, and double standards, then anyone else, is just totally blind!!

Well, a few contradictory statements in this article by certain members.

I'm sure that we have all be told that the EU cannot recognise new states, yet, when they mention slightly amending the SAA, it seems that there is a conflict of interest between members of the EU and the EU itself. If the EU truly cannot recognise states, then the EU as a collective should have no trouble in amending the SAA, otherwise, its being hijacked by individual member states. The EU can't have it both ways and it now needs to choose collectively which way to go.

Changes can always be made, its the conflict of interest that gets in the way.

The majority of people in Kosovo will want to keep their Serbian passports considering the fact that Kosovo on its own will not be economically qualified to join the EU for the next 50 years.Serbia will never relinquish the deed to Kosovo but it should implement standards which qualify it for first world economic status and as long as China and Russia respect Serbia's territorial integrity then there will be no real international recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state with only around 50 of the 192 UN countries doing so.What the Albanians fail to understand is that the MAJORITY of countries on this planet have separatist movements of their own and are not in the mood to commit suicide by not granting their own minorities sovereignty but recognizing Kosovo.

Gary,

every poll ever conducted has the Serbian electorate stating quite clearly Serbia in the EU WITH Kosovo - never would they accept such an "indecent proposal" yet here we have an analyst saying that is the choice!!

DS know that the electorate would not accept the loss of Kosovo for the EU but try to hide behind reality and pretend it has not beeen put to them but never once put the likes of Solano, Rehn, Rupel, Kouchner right in public just like Putin did the other day on Serbia's behalf!!! This analyst just highlights the deceit of what Delic and Tadicc were so easily happy to sign upto without question from their so called "friends of Serbia". Serbia initialedd teh document in Novemenebr why was it not signed then? Why did the Dutch and Belguim wait till after the elections? Could it be so that they could publically state as has already Belguim's Foreign Minister de Gucht;

"My understanding is that we signed the agreement with Serbia itself, without Kosovo"

Nick - spot on it is now as clear that D yeS to all that Europe demands was and is a deceit in attempts to sign over Kosovo for a "EUcratic promise" (for all that is worth) of quick accession and abandon the Serbs in its own province! What else and who else would be abandonded if the EUcrats demand ????

Serbia will have to decide if it wants to join the EU without kosovo or go eastward. will serbia can bear the pain of losing kosovo forever and be part of EU?? or continue it's fight for kosovo what ever it takes

He is right that it is only detrimental to try to change the SAA. All those countries that have recognized Kosovo simply will not allow it. But Kosovo will come up soon enough in later negotiations.

Serbia's strong point in the negotiations on Kosovo is that most countries and international organisations will not recognize it as long as Serbia does not do so. Starting a fight that it can't win would not be a good negotiations strategy.

Strangely many comments indicate the assumption that the SAA defines the boundaries of Serbia in some way. It is quite clear that it does not - it allows Serbia to join the EU with Kosovo or without Kosovo as the situation develops. The remarks suggesting that the EU is able recognize states is mistaken as the current EU charter agreements clearly leave foreign relations up to individual members (the Lisbon treaty will redefine EU this somewhat) excepting in cases where the block comes to an agreement on an issue. Pushing for an explicit stance within the SAA from the EU in terms of whether or not Kosovo is a state will almost certainly see the SAA being put on 'ice' for at least a couple of years though quite possibly more then that. Building positive relations with all people living in Kosovo (not necessarily their government) would be a more effective way of persuading nations that have recognized Kosovo as a state to reevaluate the situation. There's more to diplomacy then the veto and a declaration of protest; much of the concern in the West about Kosovo stems from the well being of minorities in the province yet the vast majority of remarks coming from Serbian politicians are about the loss of Serb citizens living in Kosovo and it is that failure to acknowledge that all Kosovars are/were citizens of Serbia that is among the strongest arguments for recognition.

For those who decide to respond keep in mind that I've said my piece - take it or leave it, but don't expect a response from me.

The EU should send a card to Putin and say Happy Birthday early, we give you Serbia, do with it as you wish, we have no further use for it.

>. but it should implement standards which qualify it for first world economic status

and how will they do that if EU closes Serbia's door on everything. They can't so they will sign Kosovo away. Even Montenegro and Macedonia will soon fall on Kosova's side. Kosovo was 90% (now 95%) Albanian anyway. The Serbs there will be safe once this is settled. Now with threats from each side...


>>What the Albanians fail to understand is that the MAJORITY of countries on this planet have separatist movements

Be honest, I know that countries are reluctant, but Kosovo is MUCH more than a separatist movement. There is no way to go back given the attitudes of both sides and in 1999 Serbs tried to a few things. The Radical party win confirmed that Kosova needs to be independent. Just this week a poll said that Kosova is at 25% down from 56% in February based on importance for Serbs. One more year and average Serbs will overthrow the government unless some money comes in.

'The Radical party win confirmed that Kosova needs to be independent. '

Not so fast, first the Radical Party did not win. Secondly we haven't seen which parties will make up the Serbian government yet.

Besides if you follow this logic and Kosovo elects suspected war criminals as leaders of the country what does that say about the right to an independent state?

Well, if Serbia does demand a change of the text, it leads to the following question:

How much does the EU want Serbia?

We have heard a lot about how important Serbia from the usual EC goats, but how far are they willing to go in such a game of chicken with the risk that they would be nuking their own 'stability' pact for south east europe???

And of course, nothing in the Balkans happens in isolation. The situation with the current elections in Macedonia serves to weaken EC 'success' of their policy of buying off the albanians (free aid, military support etc.)and threatening the Slavs...

The EU should send a card to Putin and say Happy Birthday early, we give you Serbia, do with it as you wish, we have no further use for it.

Serbia will have to decide if it wants to join the EU without kosovo or go eastward. will serbia can bear the pain of losing kosovo forever and be part of EU?? or continue it's fight for kosovo what ever it takes

Who was this expert paid off by? the DS? How many other countries had to relinguish their territory to become members of the EU? How many countries in the world have fought wars only to keep one inch of their territory, but I guess for Serbia, their land means nothing to them. I am not a politician and consider myself totally ignorant, but if I can see this hypocrisy, lies, and double standards, then anyone else, is just totally blind!!

Well, a few contradictory statements in this article by certain members.

I'm sure that we have all be told that the EU cannot recognise new states, yet, when they mention slightly amending the SAA, it seems that there is a conflict of interest between members of the EU and the EU itself. If the EU truly cannot recognise states, then the EU as a collective should have no trouble in amending the SAA, otherwise, its being hijacked by individual member states. The EU can't have it both ways and it now needs to choose collectively which way to go.

Changes can always be made, its the conflict of interest that gets in the way.

Gary,

every poll ever conducted has the Serbian electorate stating quite clearly Serbia in the EU WITH Kosovo - never would they accept such an "indecent proposal" yet here we have an analyst saying that is the choice!!

DS know that the electorate would not accept the loss of Kosovo for the EU but try to hide behind reality and pretend it has not beeen put to them but never once put the likes of Solano, Rehn, Rupel, Kouchner right in public just like Putin did the other day on Serbia's behalf!!! This analyst just highlights the deceit of what Delic and Tadicc were so easily happy to sign upto without question from their so called "friends of Serbia". Serbia initialedd teh document in Novemenebr why was it not signed then? Why did the Dutch and Belguim wait till after the elections? Could it be so that they could publically state as has already Belguim's Foreign Minister de Gucht;

"My understanding is that we signed the agreement with Serbia itself, without Kosovo"

Nick - spot on it is now as clear that D yeS to all that Europe demands was and is a deceit in attempts to sign over Kosovo for a "EUcratic promise" (for all that is worth) of quick accession and abandon the Serbs in its own province! What else and who else would be abandonded if the EUcrats demand ????

He is right that it is only detrimental to try to change the SAA. All those countries that have recognized Kosovo simply will not allow it. But Kosovo will come up soon enough in later negotiations.

Serbia's strong point in the negotiations on Kosovo is that most countries and international organisations will not recognize it as long as Serbia does not do so. Starting a fight that it can't win would not be a good negotiations strategy.

The majority of people in Kosovo will want to keep their Serbian passports considering the fact that Kosovo on its own will not be economically qualified to join the EU for the next 50 years.Serbia will never relinquish the deed to Kosovo but it should implement standards which qualify it for first world economic status and as long as China and Russia respect Serbia's territorial integrity then there will be no real international recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state with only around 50 of the 192 UN countries doing so.What the Albanians fail to understand is that the MAJORITY of countries on this planet have separatist movements of their own and are not in the mood to commit suicide by not granting their own minorities sovereignty but recognizing Kosovo.

Well, if Serbia does demand a change of the text, it leads to the following question:

How much does the EU want Serbia?

We have heard a lot about how important Serbia from the usual EC goats, but how far are they willing to go in such a game of chicken with the risk that they would be nuking their own 'stability' pact for south east europe???

And of course, nothing in the Balkans happens in isolation. The situation with the current elections in Macedonia serves to weaken EC 'success' of their policy of buying off the albanians (free aid, military support etc.)and threatening the Slavs...

Strangely many comments indicate the assumption that the SAA defines the boundaries of Serbia in some way. It is quite clear that it does not - it allows Serbia to join the EU with Kosovo or without Kosovo as the situation develops. The remarks suggesting that the EU is able recognize states is mistaken as the current EU charter agreements clearly leave foreign relations up to individual members (the Lisbon treaty will redefine EU this somewhat) excepting in cases where the block comes to an agreement on an issue. Pushing for an explicit stance within the SAA from the EU in terms of whether or not Kosovo is a state will almost certainly see the SAA being put on 'ice' for at least a couple of years though quite possibly more then that. Building positive relations with all people living in Kosovo (not necessarily their government) would be a more effective way of persuading nations that have recognized Kosovo as a state to reevaluate the situation. There's more to diplomacy then the veto and a declaration of protest; much of the concern in the West about Kosovo stems from the well being of minorities in the province yet the vast majority of remarks coming from Serbian politicians are about the loss of Serb citizens living in Kosovo and it is that failure to acknowledge that all Kosovars are/were citizens of Serbia that is among the strongest arguments for recognition.

For those who decide to respond keep in mind that I've said my piece - take it or leave it, but don't expect a response from me.

>. but it should implement standards which qualify it for first world economic status

and how will they do that if EU closes Serbia's door on everything. They can't so they will sign Kosovo away. Even Montenegro and Macedonia will soon fall on Kosova's side. Kosovo was 90% (now 95%) Albanian anyway. The Serbs there will be safe once this is settled. Now with threats from each side...


>>What the Albanians fail to understand is that the MAJORITY of countries on this planet have separatist movements

Be honest, I know that countries are reluctant, but Kosovo is MUCH more than a separatist movement. There is no way to go back given the attitudes of both sides and in 1999 Serbs tried to a few things. The Radical party win confirmed that Kosova needs to be independent. Just this week a poll said that Kosova is at 25% down from 56% in February based on importance for Serbs. One more year and average Serbs will overthrow the government unless some money comes in.

'The Radical party win confirmed that Kosova needs to be independent. '

Not so fast, first the Radical Party did not win. Secondly we haven't seen which parties will make up the Serbian government yet.

Besides if you follow this logic and Kosovo elects suspected war criminals as leaders of the country what does that say about the right to an independent state?