Tadic: No green light to Eulex without UN solution
Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Wednesday that he cannot see a way for Serbia to take part in the EULEX deployment process without a UN solution
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, October 30, 2008
"All missions are welcome in Kosovo if they do not implement the Ahtisaari plan, if they are status-neutral and have a UN Security Council approval", Tadic said, reiterating his position.
He said focus should be made on whether agreement can be reached on the six points of reconfiguration defined by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
"Without a UN solution I cannot at all see any possibility for Serbia to further take part in that process. If we get a solution with the UN on those six points that concern the concrete livelihoods of our people and the status of Serbia in Kosovo, it is possible to achieve a solution at the UN SC as well, and I believe, also when it comes to the EULEX deployment in Kosovo," Tadic was quoted as saying.
He underlined that a solution is still not at hand.
"I have said it very clearly what the red lines are for the state of Serbia, and what Serbia is ready for in order to reach a compromise solution in the debate on the reconfiguration of the civilian presence in Kosovo," Tadic said.
Meanwhile, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament said that the decision of the UN General Assembly to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of Kosovo independence has changed and improved the context of the debate on the deployment of the EULEX mission and it has opened the door to compromise.
"In our opinion, the decision of the UN General Assembly to address the International Court of Justice in respect to Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence has changed and improved the context of the debate", Socialist MEPs Hannes Svoboda and Jan Marinus Wiersma said in a statement.
"Such a development of the situation may bring about a favourable framework for a practical compromise with Serbia on EULEX's deployment and activities in Kosovo, by taking the mission's status neutrality as the starting point", they added.
"Since it is up to its member countries to decide on (Kosovo) independence, the EU could back the neutral status of EULEX so as to ensure the green light at the UN Security Council for its activities, which would enable a cooperation between EULEX and Serbia to the benefit of all the people of Kosovo, without prejudging the different positions of the EU member states", Svoboda pointed out.
