Analyst: Failure to sign SAA would be disaster

A leading analyst believes failure to sign the SAA with the EU would be a big blow for Serbia.

Izvor: Beta

Saturday, 05.01.2008.

14:11

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A leading analyst believes failure to sign the SAA with the EU would be a big blow for Serbia. “The EU would not lose anything, the damage it would suffer would be negligible, but for Serbia it would be a disastrous blow – economic, political, and in every respect,” said Miroslav Prokopijevic. Analyst: Failure to sign SAA would be disaster Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on January 3 that on January 28, the EU would “have to choose” between signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia or sending a mission to Kosovo, while a day later, Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said that, if invited by Brussels, Serbia would certainly sign the SAA. “It would be a dreadful mistake at this point to reconsider the EU’s relations with Serbia, now that the SAA has been prepared,” stressed Prokopijevic. He added that it would be a mistake because, since the very outset, the EU has, in its documents such as the Feasibility Study two years ago, written that the study referred to Serbia without Kosovo, and that this is explicitly stated in all the documentation. “Negotiations have been conducted the whole time with the knowledge that Kosovo is not part of the equation, without of course prejudicing final status, and it would be terribly hypocritical and mistaken to say that we now want Kosovo included. If that’s what Kostunica wanted, why didn’t he say so at the very start of talks with the EU?” wondered the analyst.

Analyst: Failure to sign SAA would be disaster

Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said on January 3 that on January 28, the EU would “have to choose” between signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia or sending a mission to Kosovo, while a day later, Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić said that, if invited by Brussels, Serbia would certainly sign the SAA.

“It would be a dreadful mistake at this point to reconsider the EU’s relations with Serbia, now that the SAA has been prepared,” stressed Prokopijević.

He added that it would be a mistake because, since the very outset, the EU has, in its documents such as the Feasibility Study two years ago, written that the study referred to Serbia without Kosovo, and that this is explicitly stated in all the documentation.

“Negotiations have been conducted the whole time with the knowledge that Kosovo is not part of the equation, without of course prejudicing final status, and it would be terribly hypocritical and mistaken to say that we now want Kosovo included. If that’s what Koštunica wanted, why didn’t he say so at the very start of talks with the EU?” wondered the analyst.

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