Tadić insists: Both integrity, and European future

President Boris Tadic told a summit of regional leaders yesterday that Serbia will never give up its integrity and sovereignty, or joining the EU. "Serbia has the right and obligation to defend its own integrity and identity in a peaceful way and at the same time the full right to secure its European future," Tadic, who is the leader of the Democrats (DS), said in a speech at the summit of central and southeastern European heads of state, held in Ohrid, Macedonia. Tadic insists: Both integrity, and European future He that Serbia signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on Tuesday as an important step toward Serbia's full-fledged membership in the organization. "My country is at the turning point and in the following weeks it has to make some brave decisions in order to secure a European future to its citizens," Tadic pointed out. The signed SAA, however, is also very important for the preservation of the country's territorial integrity, Tadic pointed out, and added that the document is "adhering to Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council and does prejudice advance Kosovo's final status" that, as he pointed out, can be determined only by the United Nations. "Two months after the illegal declaration of the Kosovo independence by the Kosovo-Metohija interim authorities it is clear that this move has not brought anything good," the Serbian president said. "On contrary, it has negatively influenced the political circumstances in Serbia, destabilized parts of Kosovo-Methoija with the majority Serb population, threatened the process of cooperation and reconciliation in the entire Balkans and set a precedent that the secessionist regions all around the world." Once again Tadic, underscored that Serbia will never recognize the Kosovo Albanians' unilaterally declared independence "because it regards the act itself as illegal and its unlawful recognition by individual countries a violation of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity". He warned that the EU mission in Kosovo is acting outside the framework of Resolution 1244, underlining that "it is not that EULEX is unwelcome to the province, but that such an engagement must have a clear legal mandate, a decision of the UN Security Council". Tadi added that UNMIK "must not allow a single provision of the Ahtisaari plan to be implemented in Kosovo because the plan was not adopted by the UN Security Council, and was rejected by Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs". A sustainable resolution to the Kosovo status is possible only through a continuation of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, and the UN Security Council is the only institution with a capacity to make a legally valid decision, Tadic told the summit. The Ohrid summit (FoNet)

Tadić insists: Both integrity, and European future

He that Serbia signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on Tuesday as an important step toward Serbia's full-fledged membership in the organization.

"My country is at the turning point and in the following weeks it has to make some brave decisions in order to secure a European future to its citizens," Tadić pointed out.

The signed SAA, however, is also very important for the preservation of the country's territorial integrity, Tadić pointed out, and added that the document is "adhering to Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council and does prejudice advance Kosovo's final status" that, as he pointed out, can be determined only by the United Nations.

"Two months after the illegal declaration of the Kosovo independence by the Kosovo-Metohija interim authorities it is clear that this move has not brought anything good," the Serbian president said.

"On contrary, it has negatively influenced the political circumstances in Serbia, destabilized parts of Kosovo-Methoija with the majority Serb population, threatened the process of cooperation and reconciliation in the entire Balkans and set a precedent that the secessionist regions all around the world."

Once again Tadić, underscored that Serbia will never recognize the Kosovo Albanians' unilaterally declared independence "because it regards the act itself as illegal and its unlawful recognition by individual countries a violation of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

He warned that the EU mission in Kosovo is acting outside the framework of Resolution 1244, underlining that "it is not that EULEX is unwelcome to the province, but that such an engagement must have a clear legal mandate, a decision of the UN Security Council".

Tadi added that UNMIK "must not allow a single provision of the Ahtisaari plan to be implemented in Kosovo because the plan was not adopted by the UN Security Council, and was rejected by Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs".

A sustainable resolution to the Kosovo status is possible only through a continuation of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, and the UN Security Council is the only institution with a capacity to make a legally valid decision, Tadić told the summit.