NATO awaits "real signals" from Serbia

NATO awaits "real signals" from Serbia

“I am sure that KFOR will play an important role with what it is currently doing even after the status is determined, which is creating a climate for security and stability, necessary for protecting the people and for the development of Kosovo after the status is determined.” Scheffer said.

He said that Euro-Atlantic integration is the only recipe for lasting peace and stability in the Balkans, including Serbia.

“It is important to get a real signal from Serbia to see whether a Partnership for Peace membership is possible. We know that Foreign Minister Vuk Drašković strongly supports the Euro-Atlantic integration of Serbia, and it is important for his stances to be shared by more politicians in Serbia.” Scheffer said.

Drašković and Scheffer met in Brussels yesterday to talk about Serbia’s chances of joining the NATO Partnership for Peace, among other issues.

“Unreasonable, yet understandable”

Doris Pack, chairwoman of the European parliament for South-Eastern Europe, says Drašković’s statement yesterday, uttered before the European Parliament’s foreign policy committee was not reasonable, but was understandable, given the fact there is an ongoing election campaign in Serbia.

The Serbian foreign minister asked for the European Parliament’s support for Serbia’s democratic forces, warning at the same time that any imposed solution regarding Kosovo’s independence would seriously destabilize the region.

“Reasonable politicians should know that in the end, they must find a way to live with the UN Security Council solution. Therefore, we need to wait until after the Serbian elections and then in February or March, most likely in March, Ahtisaari will reveal his proposal”, Pack said.

Asked to clarify what she meant when she dubbed “unreasonable” Belgrade’s claim that Albanians can rule themselves in Kosovo as long as the province remains formally a part of Serbia, Doris Pack said the question remains whether this would be functional.

“I don’t know what Ahtisaari’s’ proposal will be. If the solution is conditional independence, not unlike what you just mentioned, that could work out. We’ll see. I think that, as long as we’re talking about conditional independence, Serbs would agree to that”, Pack concluded.