“President, SNS have no plan for Kosovo”

BELGRADE Belgrade negotiator Borislav Stefanovic has stated that President Tomislav Nikolic and the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) "do not have a plan for Kosovo". According to him, by attacking the negotiating team they are looking for an alibi for their lack of political foundation. “President, SNS have no plan for Kosovo” “That is a group of incapable, undefined people who have no plan or program and who are trying to find an alibi for their lack of political foundation and for an absolutely amorphous mass that is the SNS and its leader Tomislav Nikolic by constantly throwing mud at the negotiating team,” Stefanovic, who is also a ranking Democratic Party (DS) official, stressed. He told Radio Free Europe that he had called on them to annul the agreements that had been reached with Pristina if they were not good and to hold the negotiating team politically and criminally responsible. Stefanovic claims that Nikolic’s plan for Kosovo does not exist. “They have been announcing some famous plan for Kosovo for six months now and I responsibly claim that it does not exist. I also claim that their false calls for a consensus that we will not recognize Kosovo and that Kosovo will not be a member of the UN is a well-known stance of the country’s policy. I responsibly claim that all our interpretations have been transformed into decisions of the Serbian government,” he explained. Nikolic believes that “very difficult times await us” if the range of the new government’s Kosovo policy is to prevent Kosovo from getting a seat in the UN and involving the UN in the negotiations on Kosovo. The Serbian president said that he was ready to take responsibility and lead the fight for Kosovo. He stressed that he would not allow Kosovo to become a UN member, announcing that he would propose solutions that had already been implemented, such as the status of Germans in Belgium or the South Tyrol example. “It is unbelievable that the man who most fiercely criticized the agreements with Pristina and who is familiar with all of them, just like his party, the Serbian parliament that all got them, just like the Serbian government that the team answered to and that adopted all the agreements, is now trying to find something that is unclear and unfounded,” he pointed out. Commenting on Nikolic’s claim that the negotiations have so far looked like Serbia went to Brussels in order to agree with everything, Stefanovic said that it was a lie, Radio Free Europe says. “The way we led the negotiations and the results we showed in the negotiations will be just a dream and unreachable policy for the SNS,” he pointed out. “Just so you know, we led the negotiations absolutely in accordance with the Constitution, with the authorities given to us by the Serbian parliament and the Serbian government and we are yet to see their grand undertakings,” Stefanovic stressed. Analyst Dusan Janjic says that the president's claims that he would not allow Kosovo to become a member of the UN is nothing new and that the same policy was led by former President Boris Tadic and FM Vuk Jeremic. He also stressed that Nikolic’s plan to involve the UN in the negotiating process would be hardly achievable bearing in mind that the UN had withdrawn from the Kosovo issue and that the great powers in the UN Security Council were divide on the issue. Borislav Stefanovic (FoNet, file) Tanjug

“President, SNS have no plan for Kosovo”

“That is a group of incapable, undefined people who have no plan or program and who are trying to find an alibi for their lack of political foundation and for an absolutely amorphous mass that is the SNS and its leader Tomislav Nikolić by constantly throwing mud at the negotiating team,” Stefanović, who is also a ranking Democratic Party (DS) official, stressed.

He told Radio Free Europe that he had called on them to annul the agreements that had been reached with Priština if they were not good and to hold the negotiating team politically and criminally responsible.

Stefanović claims that Nikolić’s plan for Kosovo does not exist.

“They have been announcing some famous plan for Kosovo for six months now and I responsibly claim that it does not exist. I also claim that their false calls for a consensus that we will not recognize Kosovo and that Kosovo will not be a member of the UN is a well-known stance of the country’s policy. I responsibly claim that all our interpretations have been transformed into decisions of the Serbian government,” he explained.

Nikolić believes that “very difficult times await us” if the range of the new government’s Kosovo policy is to prevent Kosovo from getting a seat in the UN and involving the UN in the negotiations on Kosovo.

The Serbian president said that he was ready to take responsibility and lead the fight for Kosovo.

He stressed that he would not allow Kosovo to become a UN member, announcing that he would propose solutions that had already been implemented, such as the status of Germans in Belgium or the South Tyrol example.

“It is unbelievable that the man who most fiercely criticized the agreements with Priština and who is familiar with all of them, just like his party, the Serbian parliament that all got them, just like the Serbian government that the team answered to and that adopted all the agreements, is now trying to find something that is unclear and unfounded,” he pointed out.

Commenting on Nikolić’s claim that the negotiations have so far looked like Serbia went to Brussels in order to agree with everything, Stefanović said that it was a lie, Radio Free Europe says.

“The way we led the negotiations and the results we showed in the negotiations will be just a dream and unreachable policy for the SNS,” he pointed out.

“Just so you know, we led the negotiations absolutely in accordance with the Constitution, with the authorities given to us by the Serbian parliament and the Serbian government and we are yet to see their grand undertakings,” Stefanović stressed.

Analyst Dušan Janjić says that the president's claims that he would not allow Kosovo to become a member of the UN is nothing new and that the same policy was led by former President Boris Tadić and FM Vuk Jeremić.

He also stressed that Nikolić’s plan to involve the UN in the negotiating process would be hardly achievable bearing in mind that the UN had withdrawn from the Kosovo issue and that the great powers in the UN Security Council were divide on the issue.