Jeremić slams work of OSCE

Vuk Jeremic says that Serbia has called for a special session of the OSCE permanent council. He said that Serbia was not satisfied with the situation in Kosovo and the OSCE’s work in the province. Jeremic slams work of OSCE The foreign minister said that Serbia wanted to discuss the situation in Kosovo and set out Serbia’s criticisms at the OSCE Permanent Council, as the body responsible for security issues in Europe and other transcontinental areas. “We are not content with the work of the OSCE on the ground. We will state our grievances and lodge complaints concerning the appointment of a new OSCE chief on Serbian territory, in Kosovo,” Jeremic said. The minister said that he would use the OSCE Permanent Council session, where he is due to speak, to present once again Serbia’s initiative, to be submitted to the UN General Assembly, to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration, and also lobby for the resolution. Vuk Jeremic (FoNet, archive) Jeremic: ICJ iniative has good chance Vuk Jeremic says the initiative to seek the opinion of the ICJ regarding Kosovo independence has a good chance of success. The foreign minister said that it was far from certain whether Serbia would receive the approval of the majority of the 192 UN General Assembly member-states needed for the initiative to pass. Serbia wants the UN to allow it to ask the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration. “It is too early to say that it is a done deal. There are many powerful countries on the other side,” Jeremic told Radio Television Serbia. He said that Serbia had a strong argument and a good chance of receiving a positive decision from the Court, but that the hardest thing would be convincing the UN majority to support the initiative. “Serbia offers a model of defending international law and I believe that the International Court of Justice, if we are successful in gaining a majority in the General Assembly, will give the only possible verdict—that international law has been very explicitly violated,” the minister underlined. Jeremic said that this was “the largest foreign policy challenge for the country at the moment,” and that it is probably “the most all-encompassing diplomatic action since the Non-Aligned Movement.” He said that there was great opposition to Serbia’s initiative and “public and drastic pressure” from powerful countries. “That storm of pressure reached its peak a week ago and started to wane once they realized that Serbia would not back down,” the minister said. Speaking of Serbia’s relations with the U.S., Jeremic said that they had been damaged by Washington’s recognition of Kosovo independence, but that the government would try to cooperate with the U.S. as the most important country on the international scene in fields unrelated to Kosovo. He added that relations had not been this bad with Washington since 1999 and the NATO air strikes. “That was not Serbia’s choice but the U.S.’s. By deciding to recognize Kosovo, they dealt a blow to Serbia and we cannot ignore the fact that America is the driving force behind the project to recognize Kosovo,” Jeremic said. As far as relations with Russia are concerned, Jeremic said that they were good and that nothing had changed since the Russian recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, adding that good relations with Russia were not incompatible with Serbia’s further EU integration.

Jeremić slams work of OSCE

The foreign minister said that Serbia wanted to discuss the situation in Kosovo and set out Serbia’s criticisms at the OSCE Permanent Council, as the body responsible for security issues in Europe and other transcontinental areas.

“We are not content with the work of the OSCE on the ground. We will state our grievances and lodge complaints concerning the appointment of a new OSCE chief on Serbian territory, in Kosovo,” Jeremić said.

The minister said that he would use the OSCE Permanent Council session, where he is due to speak, to present once again Serbia’s initiative, to be submitted to the UN General Assembly, to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration, and also lobby for the resolution.

Jeremić: ICJ iniative has good chance

Vuk Jeremić says the initiative to seek the opinion of the ICJ regarding Kosovo independence has a good chance of success.

The foreign minister said that it was far from certain whether Serbia would receive the approval of the majority of the 192 UN General Assembly member-states needed for the initiative to pass.

Serbia wants the UN to allow it to ask the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the legality of Kosovo’s unilateral independence declaration.

“It is too early to say that it is a done deal. There are many powerful countries on the other side,” Jeremić told Radio Television Serbia.

He said that Serbia had a strong argument and a good chance of receiving a positive decision from the Court, but that the hardest thing would be convincing the UN majority to support the initiative.

“Serbia offers a model of defending international law and I believe that the International Court of Justice, if we are successful in gaining a majority in the General Assembly, will give the only possible verdict—that international law has been very explicitly violated,” the minister underlined.

Jeremić said that this was “the largest foreign policy challenge for the country at the moment,” and that it is probably “the most all-encompassing diplomatic action since the Non-Aligned Movement.”

He said that there was great opposition to Serbia’s initiative and “public and drastic pressure” from powerful countries.

“That storm of pressure reached its peak a week ago and started to wane once they realized that Serbia would not back down,” the minister said.

Speaking of Serbia’s relations with the U.S., Jeremić said that they had been damaged by Washington’s recognition of Kosovo independence, but that the government would try to cooperate with the U.S. as the most important country on the international scene in fields unrelated to Kosovo.

He added that relations had not been this bad with Washington since 1999 and the NATO air strikes.

“That was not Serbia’s choice but the U.S.’s. By deciding to recognize Kosovo, they dealt a blow to Serbia and we cannot ignore the fact that America is the driving force behind the project to recognize Kosovo,” Jeremić said.

As far as relations with Russia are concerned, Jeremić said that they were good and that nothing had changed since the Russian recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, adding that good relations with Russia were not incompatible with Serbia’s further EU integration.