Serbian opposition, Kosovo Albanian NGOs protest Eulex-Belgrade agreement

"The Serbian government should not have done this under any circumstances. The effect of this kind of policy is the betrayal of Serbia's national interests," DSS deputy leader Slobodan Samardzic told a press conference.

He added that the agreement would have many adverse repercussions for Serbia's state interests.

Samardzic said that the protocol confirmed the existence of a border between Serbia and Kosovo for the first time, adding that the protocol would act as an agreement confirming borders between Pristina and Belgrade once EULEX left the province.

He said that the agreement was one in a long line of acts, where the government could gradually be seen abandoning its Constitutional positions on Kosovo and slowly withdrawing its institutions.

"The Serbian government has taken too many steps that make it clear that Serbia is no longer working in Kosovo," Samardzic said. He added that this agreement, as well as any future agreements in the fields of customs and courts, demonstrated to the U.S. and EU member-states, who had been the driving forces behind the Kosovo independence process, that Serbia effectively recognized Kosovo.

"The whole game is for Serbia to put the noose around its own neck. Not for Kosovo to be taken, but for Serbia to give it away. Since it cannot do so openly, the Serbian government is doing it covertly, through various tricks and machinations," he said.

Samardzic added that the signing of the agreement through the exchange of letters between EULEX and the Serbian Ministry on September 11 was a way of playing down the significance of the protocol and keeping it out of the public eye.

Meanwhile, ethnic Albanians protested over the deal between the European Union police mission in Kosovo and Serbian police.

The protesters say the deal splits Kosovo along ethnic lines and gives Serbia a say in Kosovo's internal affairs. The 1,000 protesters carried Albanian flags through the streets of Pristina, cheering "Down with EULEX!"-the name for EU's 2,000-strong police and justice mission.