Šutanovac: No digression from Kosovo policy

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, DS, rejected any possibility of Serbia making detours from her policy on Kosovo. The policy has been largely determined based on decisions of the previous parliament. Sutanovac: No digression from Kosovo policy "There is no digressing from that policy," Sutanovic said in a statement for Tanjug news agency. This is precisely the policy that will be given the greatest promotion in international relations by Serbian president and DS leader Boris Tadic and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, Sutanovac said. "The ruling parties won their mandate in elections - to work in favor of the Serbian citizens, which implies that they will sometimes have to make certain moves that are politically difficult and perhaps even seemingly unacceptable, but they are necessary," he told Tanjug. "If it is in the interest of the citizens who live in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija for the government to make certain steps in order to make their lives easier, and if this cannot be done in any other way but in cooperation with the international community or with the people whom we do not recognize as the Kosovo government but who de facto can do something, I do not see a way to avoid helping," Sutanovac said. He also quoted slain premier and party leader Zoran Djindjic's words that "we must swallow a frog now and then". Asked whether he would meet with an official appointed as the Kosovo defense minister Sutanovic replied that he would not. The goal of the DS, Sutanovac said, was to lead Serbia toward EU membership, "but not at the price of renouncing her sovereignty over Kosovo". He also said that the EU, "as an organization or a group of countries never recognized Kosovo". However, he continued, Brussels made "some moves that are unacceptable for Serbia, including NATO's decision to support and help the creation of Kosovo's security forces". "This is a great delusion and failure by both the international community and the so-called Kosovo authorities, to form an armed force that is supposed to be an army in a region where there are greater problems and greater challenges, such as the highest rate of organized crime, at least in Europe," the minister said. He reminded that the army's good cooperation with KFOR has been degraded to a technical level after this decision by NATO. But, Sutanovac said, an explanation arrived from Brussels, which said that the training and equipping of "the Kosovo security forces" could have happened either under the control of the international forces or outside that control, "which would have been even worse".

Šutanovac: No digression from Kosovo policy

"There is no digressing from that policy," Šutanovic said in a statement for Tanjug news agency.

This is precisely the policy that will be given the greatest promotion in international relations by Serbian president and DS leader Boris Tadić and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić, Šutanovac said.

"The ruling parties won their mandate in elections - to work in favor of the Serbian citizens, which implies that they will sometimes have to make certain moves that are politically difficult and perhaps even seemingly unacceptable, but they are necessary," he told Tanjug.

"If it is in the interest of the citizens who live in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija for the government to make certain steps in order to make their lives easier, and if this cannot be done in any other way but in cooperation with the international community or with the people whom we do not recognize as the Kosovo government but who de facto can do something, I do not see a way to avoid helping," Šutanovac said.

He also quoted slain premier and party leader Zoran Đinđić's words that "we must swallow a frog now and then".

Asked whether he would meet with an official appointed as the Kosovo defense minister Šutanovic replied that he would not.

The goal of the DS, Šutanovac said, was to lead Serbia toward EU membership, "but not at the price of renouncing her sovereignty over Kosovo". He also said that the EU, "as an organization or a group of countries never recognized Kosovo".

However, he continued, Brussels made "some moves that are unacceptable for Serbia, including NATO's decision to support and help the creation of Kosovo's security forces".

"This is a great delusion and failure by both the international community and the so-called Kosovo authorities, to form an armed force that is supposed to be an army in a region where there are greater problems and greater challenges, such as the highest rate of organized crime, at least in Europe," the minister said.

He reminded that the army's good cooperation with KFOR has been degraded to a technical level after this decision by NATO.

But, Šutanovac said, an explanation arrived from Brussels, which said that the training and equipping of "the Kosovo security forces" could have happened either under the control of the international forces or outside that control, "which would have been even worse".