Jeremić: GA victory govt.'s biggest triumph so far

Serbia’s victory at the UN General Assembly is one of the greatest achievements of the government’s first 100 days, FM Vuk Jeremic claims. The UN General Assembly adopted Serbia’s initiative for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to give its advisory opinion on Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence. Jeremic: GA victory govt.'s biggest triumph so far Jeremic said that the EULEX deployment issue and Serbia’s EU integration “have absolutely nothing in common,” stressing that Belgrade’s position remained the same regarding the EU mission’s deployment in Serbia’s southern province. The defense of Serbia’s territorial integrity has been the government’s priority, and the first 100 days, according to Jeremic, were very busy for the Foreign Ministry because, besides being contact with 150 countries, Serbia faced serious resistance and pressure. "We had an ambitious plan to transfer the Kosovo issue from political to legal terrain, in view of the fact that our legal argumentation was strongest,” he said. "We have superior legal arguments that international law was broken when Kosovo declared independence, and our strategy was to transfer the international debate on Kosovo from the political into the legal arena,” the minister said. He said that the legal team, comprising experts from both home and abroad, bore the greatest responsibility for the defense of Serbia's sovereignty. Jeremic said that Serbia faced a one to two year fight to keep Kosovo in Serbia proper. He said that even though the matter now was in lawyers’ hands, the ministry would go on with its diplomatic activities regarding Kosovo. "We’ll be careful, we’ll do everything we can not to allow the membership of the so-called Republic of Kosovo in any international organization,” the minister said. He cited EU integration acceleration as the second priority of the Foreign Ministry. Jeremic emphasized that the government’s domestic obligation was to remove all political obstacles for Serbia to gain EU candidate status. Vuk Jeremic (Tanjug, archive)

Jeremić: GA victory govt.'s biggest triumph so far

Jeremić said that the EULEX deployment issue and Serbia’s EU integration “have absolutely nothing in common,” stressing that Belgrade’s position remained the same regarding the EU mission’s deployment in Serbia’s southern province.

The defense of Serbia’s territorial integrity has been the government’s priority, and the first 100 days, according to Jeremić, were very busy for the Foreign Ministry because, besides being contact with 150 countries, Serbia faced serious resistance and pressure.

"We had an ambitious plan to transfer the Kosovo issue from political to legal terrain, in view of the fact that our legal argumentation was strongest,” he said.

"We have superior legal arguments that international law was broken when Kosovo declared independence, and our strategy was to transfer the international debate on Kosovo from the political into the legal arena,” the minister said.

He said that the legal team, comprising experts from both home and abroad, bore the greatest responsibility for the defense of Serbia's sovereignty.

Jeremić said that Serbia faced a one to two year fight to keep Kosovo in Serbia proper. He said that even though the matter now was in lawyers’ hands, the ministry would go on with its diplomatic activities regarding Kosovo.

"We’ll be careful, we’ll do everything we can not to allow the membership of the so-called Republic of Kosovo in any international organization,” the minister said.

He cited EU integration acceleration as the second priority of the Foreign Ministry.

Jeremić emphasized that the government’s domestic obligation was to remove all political obstacles for Serbia to gain EU candidate status.