Serbian parliament passes Kosovo resolution

27/07/2010

Hours after the EU offered to mediate negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, Serbian lawmakers adopt a resolution on Kosovo.

(Blic, B92 - 27/07/10; Reuters, AFP, DPA, RFE/RL, EUobserver, Canadian Press, AKI, Beta, B92, Serbian Government, Council of the EU - 26/07/10)

Graffiti in Belgrade reads "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia". [Getty Images]

During an extraordinary session Monday (July 26th), parliament supported a government motion stressing that Serbia will never recognise Kosovo, and calling for new talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

"The National Assembly finds it necessary to come through peaceful negotiations to a permanent, sustainable and mutually acceptable solution for Kosovo, in accordance with Serbia's Constitution," the resolution said.

The document passed by a vote of 192-26, with two abstentions, after a 12-hour debate on the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) advisory opinion last week, which said that Kosovo's 2008 independence declaration did not violate international law.

"Serbia will never, neither explicitly nor implicitly, recognise the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo," the resolution reads.

Although non-binding, the Belgrade authorities view the ICJ's ruling as a "serious blow" for their country's ambitions to regain its former province and fear that it will make further efforts more difficult.

"We must be fully aware that the situation in which Serbia finds itself today is much worse than before the ICJ ruling," Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told parliament during the debate.

Kosovo has been recognised by 69 countries, including the United States and 22 of the 27 EU member states. Noting that another 55 countries are close to recognising the newest Balkan state, Jeremic said the government is making every effort to prevent that from happening.

Serbia's pro-European President Boris Tadic, who also attended Monday's session, said his country would never give up Kosovo and would employ all possible diplomatic and political means to preserve its territorial integrity.

But, Serbia would not give up its strategic goal of joining the EU, either, he stressed, noting that it "must have best possible relations with big powers, because any other politics leads Serbia directly into a disaster, and its citizens straight to poverty".

Following last week's setback, Serbia plans to submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly in September, seeking the renewal of talks on Kosovo. It has already begun drafting the document. While insisting that Belgrade was preparing it alone, Jeremic told lawmakers Monday that Belgrade is consulting with Russia, China and the EU about submitting the document.

"Since we want the resolution to be passed, we want to secure as many votes as possible during the consultations, and see further negotiations on Kosovo's status as a result," he said.

Belgrade maintains that Thursday's ICJ ruling addressed only the technical aspects of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, leaving unanswered the question of whether it had the right to secede from Serbia.

The country now wants to see the UN conclude this fall that the "secessionists were not right", Jeremic said.

Several hours before Serbian lawmakers adopted the resolution, the EU offered to mediate negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels.

Catherine Ashton, the bloc's foreign policy chief, said she had reaffirmed both countries' prospects of joining the EU in talks with Tadic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. She also called on Belgrade and Pristina to focus on the future.

She made it clear, as well, that EU hopefuls should abide by the bloc's fundamental principles of good neighbourly relations, regional co-operation and dialogue, which the EU is ready to facilitate.

"What I've offered to Pristina and Belgrade, and I've spoken with both President Tadic and Prime Minister Thaci, is that the future of both lies in the EU, and [that] there is a dialogue to be had between them to look at how we move forward into the future," Ashton said. "That offer is on the table. I hope they will want to move forward and start discussions."