Eulex's neutral status will "bury" the Ahtisaari plan
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has expressed belief that the report the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to present to the Security Council on Tuesday will be acceptable for Belgrade and that it will meet the conditions Serbia has put forward for the deployment of Eulex
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, November 10, 2008
"This will 'bury' the Martti Ahtisaari plan on Kosovo independence," Jeremic said.
"In our talks with the UN general secretary, we learned that the report will include all of Serbia's demands, just like Belgrade has required and specified in detail. If this happens, that is in case that Ban Ki-moon puts forward such a report, Serbia will be ready to support it," the Serbian foreign minister said.
The minister noted that in case the report should prove as unacceptable for Serbia, the Russian Federation would block its adoption in the Security Council, just as had always done in similar cases.
"We said what we had to say about this issue. We had intensive talks with the UN regarding the reconfiguration of international civil presence in Kosovo. In our opinion, the proposal that is on the table right now is acceptable. It does not violate Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, it is fully in keeping with Resolution 1244 and it obliges all participants, including Eulex, to strict status neutrality in respect to the future reconfiguration and civil presence," Jeremic said.
"The commitment to strict status neutrality, which is confirmed by the Security Council, will eventually, and there is no dilemma about this, shelve the Martti Ahtisaari plan," Jeremic said, assessing that that would "represent a great success for Serbia in this negotiation process."
