Opposition calls for special Kosovo debate

Opposition MPs and the ruling United Serbia have called for a special parliamentary session to debate the Macedonian and Montenegrin recognitions of Kosovo. They want Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic to attend that session. Opposition calls for special Kosovo debate Parliament finished its work for the day after considering the final item of the session’s agenda on personnel changes within parliamentary boards. Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic said parliament would reconvene on Tuesday when the laws on the agenda would be considered individually. This week, parliament ended its debate on a set of anti-corruption laws, laws linked to visa abolishment, changes to the higher education law, as well as a number of international agreements. At the very start of the session, opposition MPs called on the government to outline what steps it would be taking against Macedonia and Montenegro following the two countries’ recognition of Kosovo’s unilateral independence. Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) MP Slobodan Samardzic wanted to know what measures the government would take to avert a new wave of recognitions, and proposed as an effective counter-measure lawsuits against countries that had done so. Samardzic said that the U.S. was exerting pressure on other countries to recognize Kosovo, adding that the adoption of the Serbian initiative at the UN General Assembly was having the complete opposite effect to what the Foreign Ministry had envisaged. He repeated that launching legal proceedings against states that had recognized Kosovo would be a much stronger mechanism for deterring any future recognitions, calling also on Serbia to re-examine her EU integration process as Brussels was present as “the U.S.’s helper in this process of pressure for recognition“. Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Cedomir Jovanovic said that the authorities had responded excessively by expelling the Montenegrin ambassador in the wake of the recognition. The reaction “is a completely counter-productive measure that further undermines Serbia’s position,“ said Jovanovic. He said that such conduct “only further jeopardizes the country’s European integration process, and again blocks development and the restoration of relations with countries in the region.“ United Serbia leader Dragan Markovic proposed prohibiting Montenegrin citizens from purchasing property in Serbia. Parliament (FoNet, archive)

Opposition calls for special Kosovo debate

Parliament finished its work for the day after considering the final item of the session’s agenda on personnel changes within parliamentary boards.

Deputy Speaker Gordana Čomić said parliament would reconvene on Tuesday when the laws on the agenda would be considered individually. This week, parliament ended its debate on a set of anti-corruption laws, laws linked to visa abolishment, changes to the higher education law, as well as a number of international agreements.

At the very start of the session, opposition MPs called on the government to outline what steps it would be taking against Macedonia and Montenegro following the two countries’ recognition of Kosovo’s unilateral independence.

Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) MP Slobodan Samardžić wanted to know what measures the government would take to avert a new wave of recognitions, and proposed as an effective counter-measure lawsuits against countries that had done so.

Samardžić said that the U.S. was exerting pressure on other countries to recognize Kosovo, adding that the adoption of the Serbian initiative at the UN General Assembly was having the complete opposite effect to what the Foreign Ministry had envisaged.

He repeated that launching legal proceedings against states that had recognized Kosovo would be a much stronger mechanism for deterring any future recognitions, calling also on Serbia to re-examine her EU integration process as Brussels was present as “the U.S.’s helper in this process of pressure for recognition“.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Čedomir Jovanović said that the authorities had responded excessively by expelling the Montenegrin ambassador in the wake of the recognition.

The reaction “is a completely counter-productive measure that further undermines Serbia’s position,“ said Jovanović. He said that such conduct “only further jeopardizes the country’s European integration process, and again blocks development and the restoration of relations with countries in the region.“

United Serbia leader Dragan Marković proposed prohibiting Montenegrin citizens from purchasing property in Serbia.