"Principles of talks won't be hidden from public"

BELGRADE A presidential adviser has told parliament's Committee on Kosovo that "no key principle of the Belgrade-Pristina talks will be hidden from the public eye". This, explained Marko Djuric, was true despite the fact that a platform for those talks, currently in the works, is at this point treated as "state secret". "Principles of talks won't be hidden from public" "We will not give up on the idea that the broadest public and the parliament should discuss and decide on the key parameters and principles of the talks,” Djuric said. “The meetings took place in Brussels between the Serbian prime minister (Ivica Dacic) and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and a representative of the interim institutions (Hashim Thaci) with a view to determining the basic parameters of the future talks, but not the content of our negotiating position,” he said. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic is the strongest defender of the national and state interests, and no concession will be made to the damage of the state sovereignty, his adviser asserted. Djuric added that that this process "will also include representatives of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija". Opposition LDP party MP and committee member Zoran Ostojic said during the debate that the platform should not be a state secret, and that "the citizens should see what's written in it". According to Ostojic, the authorities, while they were in opposition, "accused former chief negotiator Borislav Stefanovic of conducting secret talks". The LDP official also stated that the platform should be seen in order to learn whether Serbia was moving in the direction of freezing the conflict, or solving it. Borislav Stefanovic, an MP from the ranks of the opposition Democrats (DS) was also at the session, where he inquired how the authorities meant to secure the consent of Serbs from northern Kosovo "for all future negotiations", and asked Djuric that the platform be "as concrete and precise as possible". He also wished to know whether the document referred to the whole of Kosovo, or just its northern part. Opposition DSS party MP and committee member Slobodan Samardzic said that the government's first task must be to react to announcements that the EU planned to sign the SAA with Kosovo, "considering that Brussels is telling Serbia it does not have to recognize Kosovo". MP and one of the leaders of Serbs in northern Kosovo, Marko Jaksic (DSS) told the committee that the goal of Tuesday's visit of Hillary Clinton and Catherine Ashton was to exert "horrific" pressure on Serbia to recognize Kosovo. FM Ivan Mrkic, who also attended, replied to the committee members' numerous questions related to the Kosovo platform by saying that "the final document has not been adopted". (Beta, file) "MFA to support negotiating team" Ivan Mrkic also stated on Tuesday his ministry was concentrated on supporting the negotiating team in an effort to keep Kosovo from becoming a sovereign country. He presented a report to the committee and said that the ministry was not blocking the talks with Pristina, but efforts to build an international sovereignty for Kosovo. According to Mrkic, 90 countries have recognized Kosovo, and the pace of recognitions has slowed down over the last three years. Head of the government office for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin was at the meeting and stressed that the situation in Kosovo was characterized by the increasing frequency in physical and legal violence. Three people have been arrested in the past 20 days at the Jarinje crossing, and the international community should be asked where the Kosovo police got the authority to issue warrants, he said. Vulin said a village cemetery was vandalized in Talinovac on Tuesday, that Serbs were exposed to theft and robbery on a daily basis and that there was no large settlement where a return of a significant number of Serbs had been organized. According to Vulin, only 4,000 Serbs out of 22,000 who went back to Kosovo have stayed there. Vulin's stated that his office had asked the state auditing institution to inspect the operation of the institutions in Kosovo and the office itself and that the response was that the auditing institution did not have enough people to do that. He commented on the recent meeting between Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci by saying that it represented the start of the negotiating process and that "the government felt that a great concession had been made by having Thaci sitting opposite Dacic". Beta Tanjug

"Principles of talks won't be hidden from public"

"We will not give up on the idea that the broadest public and the parliament should discuss and decide on the key parameters and principles of the talks,” Đurić said.

“The meetings took place in Brussels between the Serbian prime minister (Ivica Dačić) and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and a representative of the interim institutions (Hashim Thaci) with a view to determining the basic parameters of the future talks, but not the content of our negotiating position,” he said.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić is the strongest defender of the national and state interests, and no concession will be made to the damage of the state sovereignty, his adviser asserted.

Đurić added that that this process "will also include representatives of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija".

Opposition LDP party MP and committee member Zoran Ostojić said during the debate that the platform should not be a state secret, and that "the citizens should see what's written in it".

According to Ostojić, the authorities, while they were in opposition, "accused former chief negotiator Borislav Stefanović of conducting secret talks".

The LDP official also stated that the platform should be seen in order to learn whether Serbia was moving in the direction of freezing the conflict, or solving it.

Borislav Stefanović, an MP from the ranks of the opposition Democrats (DS) was also at the session, where he inquired how the authorities meant to secure the consent of Serbs from northern Kosovo "for all future negotiations", and asked Đurić that the platform be "as concrete and precise as possible".

He also wished to know whether the document referred to the whole of Kosovo, or just its northern part.

Opposition DSS party MP and committee member Slobodan Samardžić said that the government's first task must be to react to announcements that the EU planned to sign the SAA with Kosovo, "considering that Brussels is telling Serbia it does not have to recognize Kosovo".

MP and one of the leaders of Serbs in northern Kosovo, Marko Jakšić (DSS) told the committee that the goal of Tuesday's visit of Hillary Clinton and Catherine Ashton was to exert "horrific" pressure on Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

FM Ivan Mrkić, who also attended, replied to the committee members' numerous questions related to the Kosovo platform by saying that "the final document has not been adopted".

"MFA to support negotiating team"

Ivan Mrkić also stated on Tuesday his ministry was concentrated on supporting the negotiating team in an effort to keep Kosovo from becoming a sovereign country.

He presented a report to the committee and said that the ministry was not blocking the talks with Priština, but efforts to build an international sovereignty for Kosovo.

According to Mrkić, 90 countries have recognized Kosovo, and the pace of recognitions has slowed down over the last three years.

Head of the government office for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin was at the meeting and stressed that the situation in Kosovo was characterized by the increasing frequency in physical and legal violence.

Three people have been arrested in the past 20 days at the Jarinje crossing, and the international community should be asked where the Kosovo police got the authority to issue warrants, he said.

Vulin said a village cemetery was vandalized in Talinovac on Tuesday, that Serbs were exposed to theft and robbery on a daily basis and that there was no large settlement where a return of a significant number of Serbs had been organized.

According to Vulin, only 4,000 Serbs out of 22,000 who went back to Kosovo have stayed there.

Vulin's stated that his office had asked the state auditing institution to inspect the operation of the institutions in Kosovo and the office itself and that the response was that the auditing institution did not have enough people to do that.

He commented on the recent meeting between Ivica Dačić and Hashim Thaci by saying that it represented the start of the negotiating process and that "the government felt that a great concession had been made by having Thaci sitting opposite Dačić".