UN plan protects Serbia’s sovereignty

The first two points, which refer to the police and judiciary, are two main items, since they are crucial for the survival of Serbs in Kosovo, Ivanovic said in an interview for the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti published on Monday.

"We also insisted on the providing of other conditions for the Serbs' survival in Kosovo, and this will be possible only if they do not take part in the work of Kosovo institutions, since we do not recognize the independence of Kosovo," he said, and underlined that "this is why we demand that cooperation be continued with UNMIK, all with the aim of the normalization of the Serbs' life in Kosovo."

Asked when the Eulex was expected to arrive in Kosovo, in view of the fact that that implied the six-item plan, Ivanovic answered that the plan's implementation on the terrain could begin immediately after a corresponding session of the UN Security Council.

After the session "it will be possible to deploy the Eulex Mission,  but first in the Albanian regions, and after that in the Serb environments. This would give time to the Serb inhabitants to become convinced that our demands have been accepted  - that Eulex will be status neutral and that the Martti Ahtisaari plan will not be implemented," he said.

"The only threat to this is the International Civilian Office (ICO) headed by Peter Feith, which has made it clear that it backs the independence (of Kosovo) and that it intends to implement the Ahtisaari plan," Ivanovic noted.

Serbia will never accept the independence of Kosovo and there can therefore be no truth to the rumors about a partition of Kosovo, Serbian Deputy Premier Bozidar Djelic has said meanwhile in an interview for the Vienna daily Die Presse.

"We are continuing to fight for our territorial integrity using diplomatic means and we hope that a historic compromise can still be reached on the status of Kosovo. We are ready to go very far in responding to the needs of Kosovo Albanians. However, Serbia, as any other European democracy, cannot accept to be fragmented," Djelic said.

"As it can be seen, Kosovo is still not a member of the United Nations. Certain important European states have not recognized Kosovo and everyone can see that there can be no lasting solution for Kosovo without the full support of Belgrade. This means that we must find a compromise. We trust that the next American administration will have a new, pragmatic view on that issue," Djelic said, when asked whether Belgrade expects new negotiations on Kosovo.

Regarding the Eulex mission in Kosovo, Djelic said a compromise has been reached between Sebria and the UN and that he predicts that the mission must be authorized by the UN Security Council, that it must be status neutral, and that it must not implement the Ahtisaari plan, which Serbia has not accepted and which therefore does not exist for Belgrade.

"It is not Serbia's objective that the EU mission in Kosovo should be jeopardized. We are not against its mandate as long as it meets the conditions agreed on now," the Serbian deputy prime minister said.

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