FM discusses SAA ratification, Kosovo

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic expressed his satisfaction on Tuesday with the debate on Serbia in the European Parliament (EP). He told B92 that he expected that the ratification in the EP of the EU Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia would speed up the ratification of the agreement with Serbia in the EU member countries which had still not gave their stamp of approval on the document. FM discusses SAA ratification, Kosovo I believe that the ratification in the EP will have a particularly positive effect when it comes to speeding up of the ratification in other member states,” Jeremic stated. Referring to a criticism by EP Rapporteur Jelko Kacin regarding Serbia's cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, he reiterated that the Belgrade authorities were fully cooperating with the ICTY and would continue doing so in the future. Commenting on Kacin's draft resolution on Serbia that will also be presented before the EP on Wednesday, Jeremic expressed satisfaction that the controversial amendment to the resolution proposed by The Greens - European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA), demanding that the forthcoming Belgrade-Pristina dialogue did “not get to the status issue,” was changed to a request to discuss the status issue at a later stage. “We did everything in our power both through diplomatic channels and through parliamentary democracy to make the wording as good as possible,” Jeremic underlined. He assessed that the current formulation suited the Serbian party completely, adding that it was acceptable for the talks to begin with easier topics. The Serbian foreign minister pointed out that, when the territorial integrity of a state is threatened, not many countries in the world would have behaved in as constructive and rational manner as Serbia had, adding that it was contributing to the stabilization in the region and was ready for constructive solutions in all fields. “However, no solution that Belgrade is ready to accept will in any way, explicitly or explicitly, effect a change in our policy towards Kosovo,” Jeremic argued. Speaking of Belgrade's moderate reaction to the report by Council of Europe (CoE) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Dick Marty on human organ trafficking in Kosovo, Jeremic said the report spoke for itself and that those were “the worst accusations of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia since the beginning of the Yugoslav crisis.” Jeremic expressed hope that Marty's report, which was adopted with two-thirds majority in the CoE Committee, would be adopted with an equally strong majority at the plenary session of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly, and then result in an appropriate criminal investigation. When it comes to Hashim Thaci as a possible participant in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Jeremic pointed out that Marty's report would not affect the talks, adding that Serbia would keep the two issues separate “until the completion of the investigation.” Vuk Jeremic (FoNet, file)

FM discusses SAA ratification, Kosovo

I believe that the ratification in the EP will have a particularly positive effect when it comes to speeding up of the ratification in other member states,” Jeremić stated.

Referring to a criticism by EP Rapporteur Jelko Kacin regarding Serbia's cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, he reiterated that the Belgrade authorities were fully cooperating with the ICTY and would continue doing so in the future.

Commenting on Kacin's draft resolution on Serbia that will also be presented before the EP on Wednesday, Jeremić expressed satisfaction that the controversial amendment to the resolution proposed by The Greens - European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA), demanding that the forthcoming Belgrade-Priština dialogue did “not get to the status issue,” was changed to a request to discuss the status issue at a later stage.

“We did everything in our power both through diplomatic channels and through parliamentary democracy to make the wording as good as possible,” Jeremić underlined.

He assessed that the current formulation suited the Serbian party completely, adding that it was acceptable for the talks to begin with easier topics.

The Serbian foreign minister pointed out that, when the territorial integrity of a state is threatened, not many countries in the world would have behaved in as constructive and rational manner as Serbia had, adding that it was contributing to the stabilization in the region and was ready for constructive solutions in all fields.

“However, no solution that Belgrade is ready to accept will in any way, explicitly or explicitly, effect a change in our policy towards Kosovo,” Jeremić argued.

Speaking of Belgrade's moderate reaction to the report by Council of Europe (CoE) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Dick Marty on human organ trafficking in Kosovo, Jeremić said the report spoke for itself and that those were “the worst accusations of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia since the beginning of the Yugoslav crisis.”

Jeremić expressed hope that Marty's report, which was adopted with two-thirds majority in the CoE Committee, would be adopted with an equally strong majority at the plenary session of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly, and then result in an appropriate criminal investigation.

When it comes to Hashim Thaci as a possible participant in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue, Jeremić pointed out that Marty's report would not affect the talks, adding that Serbia would keep the two issues separate “until the completion of the investigation.”