"Tadić to have key role in Kosovo policy"

President Boris Tadic will have the key role in policy on Kosovo in the next 3 to 5 years, writes Pristina daily Zeri. The paper states that Western diplomats stress that Tadic is pragmatic, and will not seek to further strain relations and create problems, but that he will over the course of his new mandate work towards a partition of Kosovo, which would mean Serbia recognizing Kosovo, but without its northern part. "Tadic to have key role in Kosovo policy" Zeri adds that “in the government led by Prime Minister [Vojislav] Kostunica, he (Kostunica) and his Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic had absolute control of policy on Kosovo and the control of parallel structures." “They controlled MUP and the security services, and had in their hands all the mechanisms of control of the Kosovo Serbs,“ writes the daily. Tadic and his ministers merely followed the policy led by Kostunica and Samardzic, which could be seen during both the Kosovo status talks and the other talks led by the Contact Group Troika. “From hereon in, Tadic will be in a completely different situation, because Kostunica and Samardzic will be in opposition, without any real chance of bringing to bear on Serbian policy towards Kosovo. This is the first time that Tadic, his Democratic Party, and its pro-European wing will have the opportunity to pursue their own policy towards Kosovo,“ writes the daily. The president and his supporters did not, in effect, support the creation of the Kosovo Serb Assembly, but, says the paper, only took this stance because of the poor choice of personnel, as all who did not support the policy of the Democratic Party of Serbia and Radicals were excluded. Zeri says that Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic’s government will have nothing like the same leverage in the matter as that of Kostunica. “That means the decision-making center will be Tadic,“ claims the paper. At the same time, Zeri states, one must also bear in mind the president’s position vis-a-vis the West, and the “reality that the Kosovo independence process cannot be reversed“. According to the paper, that means the situation in northern Kosovo remaining as it is, increasingly taking on the form of a “frozen conflict“. Boris Tadic (FoNet, archive)

"Tadić to have key role in Kosovo policy"

Zeri adds that “in the government led by Prime Minister [Vojislav] Koštunica, he (Koštunica) and his Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardžić had absolute control of policy on Kosovo and the control of parallel structures."

“They controlled MUP and the security services, and had in their hands all the mechanisms of control of the Kosovo Serbs,“ writes the daily.

Tadić and his ministers merely followed the policy led by Koštunica and Samardžić, which could be seen during both the Kosovo status talks and the other talks led by the Contact Group Troika.

“From hereon in, Tadić will be in a completely different situation, because Koštunica and Samardžić will be in opposition, without any real chance of bringing to bear on Serbian policy towards Kosovo. This is the first time that Tadić, his Democratic Party, and its pro-European wing will have the opportunity to pursue their own policy towards Kosovo,“ writes the daily.

The president and his supporters did not, in effect, support the creation of the Kosovo Serb Assembly, but, says the paper, only took this stance because of the poor choice of personnel, as all who did not support the policy of the Democratic Party of Serbia and Radicals were excluded.

Zeri says that Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković’s government will have nothing like the same leverage in the matter as that of Koštunica.

“That means the decision-making center will be Tadić,“ claims the paper.

At the same time, Zeri states, one must also bear in mind the president’s position vis-a-vis the West, and the “reality that the Kosovo independence process cannot be reversed“.

According to the paper, that means the situation in northern Kosovo remaining as it is, increasingly taking on the form of a “frozen conflict“.