Cvetković welcomes UN SC decision

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic has commended the UN Security Council’s decision to support the UNMIK reconfiguration as proposed by UN Sec-Gen. Ban Ki-Moon. Cvetkovic said that the EULEX Mission deployment could begin as early as December. Cvetkovic welcomes UN SC decision The prime minister said that Ban’s report contained all the elements that the Serbian side stood for: that the EULEX Mission should have neutral status, that it should not apply the Ahtisaari plan, and that it should have the UN Security Council’s support. State Secretary in the Kosovo Ministry Oliver Ivanovic, however, does not expect the EULEX deployment in Serb enclaves to happen fast. He told B92 that he hoped, nonetheless, that the mission would be able to bring stability to the Serb community in Kosovo, something that UNMIK had failed to do. “We don’t know the dynamics of the deployment because December 2 and 10 are not dates that we can rely on with certainty. The other thing that we do not know is where the mission will be deployed,” Ivanovic said. He said that EULEX would not be deployed in Serb enclaves in Kosovo soon, reiterating that the Serbs were hostile towards the mission and that it would take some time for people to realize that the Mission was of a technical nature. Meanwhile, the adoption of the Ban Ki-moon report on Kosovo has received contrasting reactions from the government and opposition. While the ruling coalition and the Liberal Democratic Party support the report, the Democratic Party of Serbia and Serb Radical Party say that it is not good for Serbia. Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that the UN Security Council’s decision to support the UNMIK reconfiguration plan was of paramount importance because it would operate under UN jurisdiction, and because UN Security Council Resolution 1244 had not been altered. "This means that EULEX will be a status-neutral mission,” said Dacic, who is also leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). "It’s also important that for the first time after a number of years the Security Council has adopted a decision that does not run counter to Serbia’s interests. The fact that the Kosovo Albanians were against this decision bears this out,” Dacic said. Speaker Slavica Djukic Dejanovic (SPS) said that the Security Council’s decision was another positive diplomatic step regarding Kosovo that enhanced Serbia’s negotiating position. "The unanimous adoption of the report is yet another positive diplomatic step for our southern province, and for Kosovo’s citizens, because it was adopted by the Security Council, and it guarantees the EU mission’s neutral status,” she said. She said that the decision guaranteed that the Ahtisaari plan would not be implemented, and that UN Security Council Resolution 1244 would be respected. Democratic Party spokeswoman Jelena Trivan said that the adoption of the Ban report constituted a major victory for Serbian diplomacy and for international law too, given that the EULEX mission would work in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244. "It is clear that Serbia’s political and legal battle for Kosovo has an increasing number of supporters and is reaping ever more significant results, and for the first time, a decision has been taken despite Pristina’s objections, and in line with Serbia’s interests,” she noted. This type of EULEX deployment, which satisfies the terms Belgrade insisted upon, constituted a resumption of Serbian policy thus far, a policy whose insistence on the country’s territorial integrity had been unflinching, she said. Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Cedomir Jovanovic welcomed the adoption of the Ban report, adding that his party had supported EULEX’s deployment in Kosovo from the very beginning. "We see this decision as an affirmation of our policies and we are convinced that the future will open more space for our ideas,” Jovanovic said. Mirko Cvetkovic (FoNet, archive) DSS, SRS condemn Ban plan Former Prime Minister and Democratic Party of Serbia leader Vojislav Kostunica said that the report adopted by the UN Security Council on the EULEX deployment was a threat to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which guaranteed Serbia’s territorial integrity. "By saying that the EULEX mission is status-neutral, one actually confirms its essential difference from UNMIK. The UNMIK mission stemmed from UN SC Resolution 1244, which was not status neutral, but guaranteed the preservation of Serbia’s territorial integrity,” Kostunica said. Senior Democratic Party of Serbia official and former Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic said that the UN Security Council’s decision was neither in the interests of Serbia nor the Serbs living in the province. Samardzic said that the UN Security Council’s decision meant that “Serbia has given up rights it had under the international documents.” "According to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, anyy mission that comes to Kosovo would have the task of preserving Serbia’s territorial integrity. Now, it’s been said that the EULEX mission is status neutral,” he said. Samardzic said that the term “status neutral” meant that the mission was not obliged to preserve Serbia’s integrity, which meant that “we have practically renounced this right.” Senior Serb Radical Party official Dragan Todorovic said that the adoption of the Ban report was a “big hoax” . Todorovic said that the report was a scenario prepared by the U.S. and the EU, while the EULEX mission was part of the Ahtisaari Plan that it planned to implement. He said that accepting the UN Secretary General’s report meant that Serbia had practically recognized Kosovo’s independence. Deputy Speaker of the Kosovo Serb assembly Marko Jaksic said that the institution would state its position over the EULEX deployment in Kosovo next week. "We will come up with a joint Serb agreement,” Jaksic told Beta, adding that the Security Council’s decision “put ever more distance between Kosovo and Serbia.“

Cvetković welcomes UN SC decision

The prime minister said that Ban’s report contained all the elements that the Serbian side stood for: that the EULEX Mission should have neutral status, that it should not apply the Ahtisaari plan, and that it should have the UN Security Council’s support.

State Secretary in the Kosovo Ministry Oliver Ivanović, however, does not expect the EULEX deployment in Serb enclaves to happen fast. He told B92 that he hoped, nonetheless, that the mission would be able to bring stability to the Serb community in Kosovo, something that UNMIK had failed to do.

“We don’t know the dynamics of the deployment because December 2 and 10 are not dates that we can rely on with certainty. The other thing that we do not know is where the mission will be deployed,” Ivanović said.

He said that EULEX would not be deployed in Serb enclaves in Kosovo soon, reiterating that the Serbs were hostile towards the mission and that it would take some time for people to realize that the Mission was of a technical nature.

Meanwhile, the adoption of the Ban Ki-moon report on Kosovo has received contrasting reactions from the government and opposition.

While the ruling coalition and the Liberal Democratic Party support the report, the Democratic Party of Serbia and Serb Radical Party say that it is not good for Serbia.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that the UN Security Council’s decision to support the UNMIK reconfiguration plan was of paramount importance because it would operate under UN jurisdiction, and because UN Security Council Resolution 1244 had not been altered.

"This means that EULEX will be a status-neutral mission,” said Dačić, who is also leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

"It’s also important that for the first time after a number of years the Security Council has adopted a decision that does not run counter to Serbia’s interests. The fact that the Kosovo Albanians were against this decision bears this out,” Dačić said.

Speaker Slavica Đukić Dejanović (SPS) said that the Security Council’s decision was another positive diplomatic step regarding Kosovo that enhanced Serbia’s negotiating position.

"The unanimous adoption of the report is yet another positive diplomatic step for our southern province, and for Kosovo’s citizens, because it was adopted by the Security Council, and it guarantees the EU mission’s neutral status,” she said.

She said that the decision guaranteed that the Ahtisaari plan would not be implemented, and that UN Security Council Resolution 1244 would be respected.

Democratic Party spokeswoman Jelena Trivan said that the adoption of the Ban report constituted a major victory for Serbian diplomacy and for international law too, given that the EULEX mission would work in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

"It is clear that Serbia’s political and legal battle for Kosovo has an increasing number of supporters and is reaping ever more significant results, and for the first time, a decision has been taken despite Priština’s objections, and in line with Serbia’s interests,” she noted.

This type of EULEX deployment, which satisfies the terms Belgrade insisted upon, constituted a resumption of Serbian policy thus far, a policy whose insistence on the country’s territorial integrity had been unflinching, she said.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Čedomir Jovanović welcomed the adoption of the Ban report, adding that his party had supported EULEX’s deployment in Kosovo from the very beginning.

"We see this decision as an affirmation of our policies and we are convinced that the future will open more space for our ideas,” Jovanović said.

DSS, SRS condemn Ban plan

Former Prime Minister and Democratic Party of Serbia leader Vojislav Koštunica said that the report adopted by the UN Security Council on the EULEX deployment was a threat to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which guaranteed Serbia’s territorial integrity.

"By saying that the EULEX mission is status-neutral, one actually confirms its essential difference from UNMIK. The UNMIK mission stemmed from UN SC Resolution 1244, which was not status neutral, but guaranteed the preservation of Serbia’s territorial integrity,” Koštunica said.

Senior Democratic Party of Serbia official and former Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardžić said that the UN Security Council’s decision was neither in the interests of Serbia nor the Serbs living in the province.

Samardžić said that the UN Security Council’s decision meant that “Serbia has given up rights it had under the international documents.”

"According to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, anyy mission that comes to Kosovo would have the task of preserving Serbia’s territorial integrity. Now, it’s been said that the EULEX mission is status neutral,” he said.

Samardžić said that the term “status neutral” meant that the mission was not obliged to preserve Serbia’s integrity, which meant that “we have practically renounced this right.”

Senior Serb Radical Party official Dragan Todorović said that the adoption of the Ban report was a “big hoax” .

Todorović said that the report was a scenario prepared by the U.S. and the EU, while the EULEX mission was part of the Ahtisaari Plan that it planned to implement.

He said that accepting the UN Secretary General’s report meant that Serbia had practically recognized Kosovo’s independence.

Deputy Speaker of the Kosovo Serb assembly Marko Jakšić said that the institution would state its position over the EULEX deployment in Kosovo next week.

"We will come up with a joint Serb agreement,” Jakšić told Beta, adding that the Security Council’s decision “put ever more distance between Kosovo and Serbia.“