Ambassador: UN seat important but not for EU talks date

KRAGUJEVAC German Ambassador to Serbia Heinz Wilhelm has said that Kosovo’s membership in the UN could be a result of a political dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. However, he said that this was not a topic that should be discussed today. Ambassador: UN seat important but not for EU talks date “Germany does not want Serbia to block this membership and Kosovo’s seat in the UN. This is not a topic for today, it is a process that will be developed in the future,” the German ambassador said in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac on Thursday. According to him, the issue was first raised by Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic. Wilhelm stressed that a UN seat for Kosovo could be possible in the end of the negotiating process. He reiterated that Germany supported the Ahtisaari plan that envisaged autonomy for Serb municipalities but that Serbia’s Resolution and Platform on Kosovo exceeded regulations of the plan. The German ambassador told daily Vecernji novosti that it was hard to say whether Serbia would be requested to agree to Kosovo’s UN membership in order to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks and that everything depended on an agreement of all 27 EU member states. He also said that that Kosovo’s UN membership was one of the issues that should be discussed in Brussels. Serbian parliament's Committee on Kosovo and Metohija President Milovan Drecun said earlier today that Wilhelm's statement was a “deliberate provocation” that would harm the Belgrade-Pristina negotiations and a “dictate” that would drive Serbia away from the EU and led toward “Greater Albania”. Beta has learnt from sources in Brussels that the Council of the EU did not request at a December meeting that Serbia’s acceptance of Kosovo UN membership be discussed in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue so Serbia would get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks. Wilhelm told weekly NIN that the EU requested from Serbia to stop blocking Kosovo’s possible membership in the UN. “Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in its past needed to accept the German Democratic Republic’s membership in the UN without recognizing its international statehood. This is a clear stance of the EU and therefore Germany. We believe that this is a step toward normalization of relations requested from Serbia in order to fulfill criteria for the EU membership,” the ambassador told the weekly. He noted that it was too early to say when Serbia would get a date for the beginning of the EU negotiations. “The European Council clearly said that a precondition for the beginning of the negotiations was further progress in the political dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina dialogue and it will give an assessment on its progress, and it will make a decision after that. There will be more rounds of dialogue until the Council of the EU makes a decision on Serbia's further negotiations with the EU. Therefore, it is key for the Serbian government to show good will to go further down the (EU) pathway,” Wilhelm was quoted as saying. When asked if Serbia should do anything else in order to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession negotiations, the ambassador said that one of the most important requests was solving of the issue of the so-called parallel institutions in Kosovo. “It is not enough for the Serbian government to say it will find some solutions, it needs to show concretely that there will be some progress. In what form it would be, that is the question I cannot answer now,” he noted. Wilhelm added that Germany wanted the Serbian authorities to find persons responsible for an attack on the German Embassy in 2008, after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence. Heinz Wilhelm (Tanjug, file) Beta NIN

Ambassador: UN seat important but not for EU talks date

“Germany does not want Serbia to block this membership and Kosovo’s seat in the UN. This is not a topic for today, it is a process that will be developed in the future,” the German ambassador said in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac on Thursday.

According to him, the issue was first raised by Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić. Wilhelm stressed that a UN seat for Kosovo could be possible in the end of the negotiating process.

He reiterated that Germany supported the Ahtisaari plan that envisaged autonomy for Serb municipalities but that Serbia’s Resolution and Platform on Kosovo exceeded regulations of the plan.

The German ambassador told daily Večernji novosti that it was hard to say whether Serbia would be requested to agree to Kosovo’s UN membership in order to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks and that everything depended on an agreement of all 27 EU member states. He also said that that Kosovo’s UN membership was one of the issues that should be discussed in Brussels.

Serbian parliament's Committee on Kosovo and Metohija President Milovan Drecun said earlier today that Wilhelm's statement was a “deliberate provocation” that would harm the Belgrade-Priština negotiations and a “dictate” that would drive Serbia away from the EU and led toward “Greater Albania”.

Beta has learnt from sources in Brussels that the Council of the EU did not request at a December meeting that Serbia’s acceptance of Kosovo UN membership be discussed in the Belgrade-Priština dialogue so Serbia would get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks.

Wilhelm told weekly NIN that the EU requested from Serbia to stop blocking Kosovo’s possible membership in the UN.

“Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in its past needed to accept the German Democratic Republic’s membership in the UN without recognizing its international statehood. This is a clear stance of the EU and therefore Germany. We believe that this is a step toward normalization of relations requested from Serbia in order to fulfill criteria for the EU membership,” the ambassador told the weekly.

He noted that it was too early to say when Serbia would get a date for the beginning of the EU negotiations.

“The European Council clearly said that a precondition for the beginning of the negotiations was further progress in the political dialogue between Belgrade and Priština dialogue and it will give an assessment on its progress, and it will make a decision after that. There will be more rounds of dialogue until the Council of the EU makes a decision on Serbia's further negotiations with the EU. Therefore, it is key for the Serbian government to show good will to go further down the (EU) pathway,” Wilhelm was quoted as saying.

When asked if Serbia should do anything else in order to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession negotiations, the ambassador said that one of the most important requests was solving of the issue of the so-called parallel institutions in Kosovo.

“It is not enough for the Serbian government to say it will find some solutions, it needs to show concretely that there will be some progress. In what form it would be, that is the question I cannot answer now,” he noted.

Wilhelm added that Germany wanted the Serbian authorities to find persons responsible for an attack on the German Embassy in 2008, after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence.