PM elaborates on community of municipalities

BRUSSELS Serbia's Prime Minister Ivica Dacic says a community of Serb municipalities should be formed in all municipalities in which Serbs make up a majority population. He met with Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday. PM elaborates on community of municipalities "Regardless of what some in the international community calls these institutions, they are the only ones in this part of Kosovo," Dacic told reporters. He stressed the existing institutions would not be dismantled until it was decided what kind of institutions would replace them. “What Belgrade wants is to put new institutions run by the community of Serb municipalities in their place,” he said. According to the proposal, the community would be made up of all municipalities in which the Serbs are the majority rather than just those in northern Kosovo. "This community should have significant authority, make Serb self-government possible and play an important role in the political life of Kosovo," said the prime minister, saying this would make it possible to solve all problems facing the Kosovo Serbs. Dacic said details of the structure and jurisdictions of the nine Serb municipalities in Kosovo would be discussed by working groups and then during the next round of dialogue with Thaci set for March 4. "We will talk about how municipal representatives will be elected, directly or indirectly," he said, noting that the deadline for reaching an agreement was tight, since progress in the dialogue was a key condition Serbia needed to fulfill in order to get a date for opening accession talks with the EU this June. "There are no new conditions, but the question is what we will do with the old ones, which are difficult enough to cause us a great deal of trouble," he stressed. He said he was happy the idea about a community of Serb municipalities had found its way to the negotiating table and was not being disputed by anyone, but noted it still requireed a lot of work as it encompassed many issues. "When you speak of parallelism of institutions, you are talking about the formation of municipalities, the judiciary, security structures - which they keep mentioning, but we say we do not have - and about education, health care, finances," said Dacic. He said Belgrade and Pristina's views on what the community should look like still diverged significantly. "They have agreed to talk about this, but they disagree with the competencies we have proposed and everything else," said the prime minister. The prime minister said this round of dialogue passed in a constructive atmosphere despite the disagreement and that the community of Serb municipalities was a matter that should be discussed further even though it opened the issue of Kosovo's status, noting this was the way to arrive at a comprehensive solution. "Our activities will continue but we will certainly not do anything against our people in Kosovo," underlined Dacic, stressing that his political line in the dialogue was the parliamentary Resolution and the government Platform on Kosovo. Ivica Dacic (Beta, file) Tanjug

PM elaborates on community of municipalities

"Regardless of what some in the international community calls these institutions, they are the only ones in this part of Kosovo," Dačić told reporters.

He stressed the existing institutions would not be dismantled until it was decided what kind of institutions would replace them.

“What Belgrade wants is to put new institutions run by the community of Serb municipalities in their place,” he said.

According to the proposal, the community would be made up of all municipalities in which the Serbs are the majority rather than just those in northern Kosovo.

"This community should have significant authority, make Serb self-government possible and play an important role in the political life of Kosovo," said the prime minister, saying this would make it possible to solve all problems facing the Kosovo Serbs.

Dačić said details of the structure and jurisdictions of the nine Serb municipalities in Kosovo would be discussed by working groups and then during the next round of dialogue with Thaci set for March 4.

"We will talk about how municipal representatives will be elected, directly or indirectly," he said, noting that the deadline for reaching an agreement was tight, since progress in the dialogue was a key condition Serbia needed to fulfill in order to get a date for opening accession talks with the EU this June.

"There are no new conditions, but the question is what we will do with the old ones, which are difficult enough to cause us a great deal of trouble," he stressed.

He said he was happy the idea about a community of Serb municipalities had found its way to the negotiating table and was not being disputed by anyone, but noted it still requireed a lot of work as it encompassed many issues.

"When you speak of parallelism of institutions, you are talking about the formation of municipalities, the judiciary, security structures - which they keep mentioning, but we say we do not have - and about education, health care, finances," said Dačić.

He said Belgrade and Priština's views on what the community should look like still diverged significantly.

"They have agreed to talk about this, but they disagree with the competencies we have proposed and everything else," said the prime minister.

The prime minister said this round of dialogue passed in a constructive atmosphere despite the disagreement and that the community of Serb municipalities was a matter that should be discussed further even though it opened the issue of Kosovo's status, noting this was the way to arrive at a comprehensive solution.

"Our activities will continue but we will certainly not do anything against our people in Kosovo," underlined Dačić, stressing that his political line in the dialogue was the parliamentary Resolution and the government Platform on Kosovo.