Koštunica preparing "response for NATO"

In case Kosovo declares independence, Serbia should respond, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Friday. According to Tanjug, this response will be "primarily for NATO, which is the main participant without whom such a development would not take place." Kostunica preparing "response for NATO" But the agency did not elaborate on the meaning of Kostunica's words. Speaking about his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) anti-NATO rhetoric and a consequent decision to remove Belgrade's full fledged membership in the Alliance as the party's goal, he said the EU and NATO integrations were two separate issues. "We are not jeopardizing Serbia's European integration for a single moment. Moreover, a number of EU countries are not NATO members. This is not a condition." "Eventually, the people will have a say about that organization. We had too many victims during the wars in which Serbia was engaged, to now cause, by joining NATO, more victims in order to fulfill someone else's interests and in other continents," Kostunica told Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti. The full interview will appear in the newspaper's Saturday issue. According the prime minister and DSS leader, a party which is one of the coalition partners in the cabinet, Serbia has "suffered sufficiently and will not now take part in confrontations worldwide to suffer additionally." "This is why it is quite certain that no Serbian troops will be sent to military missions in either Iraq or Afghanistan," said Kostunica. "The Partnership for Peace program represents the full measure of our cooperation with NATO and Serbia should firmly conduct a policy of military neutrality," Kostunica stated. Speaking about the progress of the Kosovo status talks, Kostunica set out that, as far as Serbia was concerned, the Ahtisaari plan "has definitively became a thing of the past". "The idea to use Ahtisaari's plan now as a basis for unilateral independence, shows that the implementation of Annex 11 of the plan is even more important than the fate of Serbia and the fate of the Albanian ethnic minority in the province." "Annex 11 is the crucial issue," Kostunica said. Vojislav Kostunica (FoNet, archive)

Koštunica preparing "response for NATO"

But the agency did not elaborate on the meaning of Koštunica's words.

Speaking about his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) anti-NATO rhetoric and a consequent decision to remove Belgrade's full fledged membership in the Alliance as the party's goal, he said the EU and NATO integrations were two separate issues.

"We are not jeopardizing Serbia's European integration for a single moment. Moreover, a number of EU countries are not NATO members. This is not a condition."

"Eventually, the people will have a say about that organization. We had too many victims during the wars in which Serbia was engaged, to now cause, by joining NATO, more victims in order to fulfill someone else's interests and in other continents," Koštunica told Belgrade daily Večernje Novosti.

The full interview will appear in the newspaper's Saturday issue.

According the prime minister and DSS leader, a party which is one of the coalition partners in the cabinet, Serbia has "suffered sufficiently and will not now take part in confrontations worldwide to suffer additionally."

"This is why it is quite certain that no Serbian troops will be sent to military missions in either Iraq or Afghanistan," said Koštunica.

"The Partnership for Peace program represents the full measure of our cooperation with NATO and Serbia should firmly conduct a policy of military neutrality," Koštunica stated.

Speaking about the progress of the Kosovo status talks, Koštunica set out that, as far as Serbia was concerned, the Ahtisaari plan "has definitively became a thing of the past".

"The idea to use Ahtisaari's plan now as a basis for unilateral independence, shows that the implementation of Annex 11 of the plan is even more important than the fate of Serbia and the fate of the Albanian ethnic minority in the province."

"Annex 11 is the crucial issue," Koštunica said.