Koštunica: Serbia's top priorities – Kosovo, RS

Serbia will decisively defend UN resolution 1244 and the Dayton accord, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica says. He said, in a statement carried by the agencies Thursday, that preservation of Kosovo and Republic of Srpska (RS) were the "top-priority goals of our country and our national policy." Kostunica: Serbia's top priorities – Kosovo, RS "The measures of [High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Miroslav] Lajcak and the Ahtisaari plan have the aim of annulling Resolution 1244 and the Dayton agreement, so that independence of Kosovo could be proclaimed and Republic of Srpska be abolished." "This is an open violation of the basic interests of the Serb nation," the prime minister specified in the statement. Kostunica underlined that Serbia, as a signatory of the Dayton agreement, will provide complete support to RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and the RS institutions as they seek to preserve the status granted by the 1995 peace deal. "I have informed Prime Minister Dodik that he can count on Serbia's full support, and that together we will decisively defend both Resolution 1244 and the Dayton Peace Accords," Kostunica concluded. Also Thursday, Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore published an interview with the prime minister, where he took another swipe at the U.S., saying that Washington is "pressuring Pristina on a daily basis for a compromise solution not to be reached." "The U.S. is not really interested in Kosovo's independence, because what it really wants is for a state to emerge in the heart of Europe that would de facto be administered by NATO," Kostunica was quoted. "It is certainly no coincidence that, after the bombing of Serbia ended in 1999, the United States set up in Kosovo a huge base, Bondsteel,” he told the paper. Kostunica then added that Serbia would never accept any unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence because that would run counter to international law. Asked whether people in Serbia, especially the young, are perhaps more interested in the future integration into the EU than in the past, i.e., preservation of Kosovo, Kostunica said that the past represented something "more than mere history." "History is an important aspect of national identity and that is a principle defended by all European states," he explained, and added that Serbia's integration into the EU is "not only in our interest, but also in the interest of Europe as a whole." Vojislav Kostunica (FoNet, archive)

Koštunica: Serbia's top priorities – Kosovo, RS

"The measures of [High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Miroslav] Lajčak and the Ahtisaari plan have the aim of annulling Resolution 1244 and the Dayton agreement, so that independence of Kosovo could be proclaimed and Republic of Srpska be abolished."

"This is an open violation of the basic interests of the Serb nation," the prime minister specified in the statement.

Koštunica underlined that Serbia, as a signatory of the Dayton agreement, will provide complete support to RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and the RS institutions as they seek to preserve the status granted by the 1995 peace deal.

"I have informed Prime Minister Dodik that he can count on Serbia's full support, and that together we will decisively defend both Resolution 1244 and the Dayton Peace Accords," Koštunica concluded.

Also Thursday, Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore published an interview with the prime minister, where he took another swipe at the U.S., saying that Washington is "pressuring Priština on a daily basis for a compromise solution not to be reached."

"The U.S. is not really interested in Kosovo's independence, because what it really wants is for a state to emerge in the heart of Europe that would de facto be administered by NATO," Koštunica was quoted.

"It is certainly no coincidence that, after the bombing of Serbia ended in 1999, the United States set up in Kosovo a huge base, Bondsteel,” he told the paper.

Koštunica then added that Serbia would never accept any unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence because that would run counter to international law.

Asked whether people in Serbia, especially the young, are perhaps more interested in the future integration into the EU than in the past, i.e., preservation of Kosovo, Koštunica said that the past represented something "more than mere history."

"History is an important aspect of national identity and that is a principle defended by all European states," he explained, and added that Serbia's integration into the EU is "not only in our interest, but also in the interest of Europe as a whole."