Jeremić: Serbia, Bosnia as partners

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic says that Serbia, which guarantees the Dayton agreement, favors a unified Bosnia. Jeremic was in Sarajevo and Banja Luka on an official visit on Friday. Jeremic: Serbia, Bosnia as partners He told Republic of Srpska Television that he is convinced the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina would be resolved, since political forces that favor compromise and agreement are strengthening, for preservation of Bosnia that will fit all three constitutive peoples – according to a FoNet news agency report. "Serbia as a guarantor of Dayton will always have a firm position that the Dayton Accords and the Dayton Constitution mean that changes can occur only with the consent of all three constitutive peoples on Bosnia," he was quoted as saying. Jeremic stressed that Serbia and Bosnia must have the closest partnership relations, since without that "there will be no European future". He also addressed the issue of the Hague Tribunal and said Belgrade "will do everything so that the remaining two fugitives get a chance to defend themselves" before that the court. "Serbia is a serious country that is not backing down from its legal obligations. The arrest of the Hague fugitives is one of the preconditions for EU integrations, but we would hold the same position even if that weren't the case." However, he warned that any new conditions that could be put to Serbia would be "disastrous for the European future of the Balkans". Jeremic also spoke about regional ties that are still burdened with the events of the 1990s, and said that Serbia is trying to turn to the future, and help others achieve the same. But, when it comes to the genocide countersuit against Croatia, he explained, Belgrade was forced to make that decision since Zagreb would not drop its own lawsuit. "We are now in the process of putting together this suit, for which we have a year. The International Court of Justice in The Hague has jurisdiction over events that took place after 1948 and for this reason, Serbia cannot sue Croatia over the Second World War." "However, the countersuit will include a historical context and we will have that period very carefully documented, since it has had great influence on the 1991-95 events," he said, in reference to the puppet Nazi regime in Croatia during the Second World War, which subjected the Serb population to mass murder in concentration camps. Jeremic said that it is "perhaps for the best" that a court of justice and history once and for all resolves what took place, and what role Croatia had in those events. But the foreign minister also once again called for reconciliation and a common European future. Jeremic, RS President Rajko Kuzmanovic, in Banja Luka on Friday (Tanjug)

Jeremić: Serbia, Bosnia as partners

He told Republic of Srpska Television that he is convinced the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina would be resolved, since political forces that favor compromise and agreement are strengthening, for preservation of Bosnia that will fit all three constitutive peoples – according to a FoNet news agency report.

"Serbia as a guarantor of Dayton will always have a firm position that the Dayton Accords and the Dayton Constitution mean that changes can occur only with the consent of all three constitutive peoples on Bosnia," he was quoted as saying.

Jeremić stressed that Serbia and Bosnia must have the closest partnership relations, since without that "there will be no European future".

He also addressed the issue of the Hague Tribunal and said Belgrade "will do everything so that the remaining two fugitives get a chance to defend themselves" before that the court.

"Serbia is a serious country that is not backing down from its legal obligations. The arrest of the Hague fugitives is one of the preconditions for EU integrations, but we would hold the same position even if that weren't the case."

However, he warned that any new conditions that could be put to Serbia would be "disastrous for the European future of the Balkans".

Jeremić also spoke about regional ties that are still burdened with the events of the 1990s, and said that Serbia is trying to turn to the future, and help others achieve the same.

But, when it comes to the genocide countersuit against Croatia, he explained, Belgrade was forced to make that decision since Zagreb would not drop its own lawsuit.

"We are now in the process of putting together this suit, for which we have a year. The International Court of Justice in The Hague has jurisdiction over events that took place after 1948 and for this reason, Serbia cannot sue Croatia over the Second World War."

"However, the countersuit will include a historical context and we will have that period very carefully documented, since it has had great influence on the 1991-95 events," he said, in reference to the puppet Nazi regime in Croatia during the Second World War, which subjected the Serb population to mass murder in concentration camps.

Jeremić said that it is "perhaps for the best" that a court of justice and history once and for all resolves what took place, and what role Croatia had in those events.

But the foreign minister also once again called for reconciliation and a common European future.