Pantic: Brussels offer is unacceptable
Deputy Director of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo Krstimir Pantic said Thursday that the Serbs in the north find the new Brussels' offer to be unacceptable and that they will not take part in implementing any such agreement.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Friday, April 19, 2013
"We need to state clearly that we find all this which has been offered in Brussels to be unacceptable," Pantic said at a joint session of the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo, underway in the town of Zvecan.
He said he is afraid that Friday is D-Day and that Belgrade's negotiators will be pressed hard in Brussels to accept something that is neither in the interests of the Republic of Serbia, nor of the Serbian people, both in Serbia and in KiM.
"I wish to remind all those in Belgrade that they should abide by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, where it says that Kosovo-Metohija is an integral part of Serbia and that no one has the right to put their signature on a document where it will be said that the municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija (that function under the Serbian constitution) are to be transformed into municipalities that will function under Albanian legislation," Pantic said.
He stressed that northern Kosovo Serbs want Serbia to make progress on the European path and that they want to become part of the EU themselves, but not as citizens of "the Republic of Kosovo."
"It is our commitment to honestly, unanimously, and without any harsh words against anyone state our position that we will not accept any impositions, no matter whether they come from the international community, Albanians or our own government," said Pantic.
He pointed out that no one has the right to be persuading the Serbs in northern Kosovo that they will live better after the commanders of police stations in Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic are Serbs, since the commanders there have already been Serbs, and so this is no compromise at all.
"No one has the right to be telling us that we will have an appellate court in Kosovska Mitrovica where Serbs will constitute a majority of employees, while nobody is informing us that we will be getting confirmations that a person has not been convicted in documents with the seal of 'the Republic of Kosovo'," Pantic said.
"If the Serbian government considers this not to be good, it has mechanisms at its disposal by which in can disband local municipal assemblies, introduce municipal councils instead and then implement this agreement without us," Pantic said in his address to councilors.
We do not want to take part in that, Pantic said, calling on the councilors from the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo to remain as one just as they have been all these years.
Pantic pointed out that Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has recently stated that the Constitution is no gospel, is not written in stone and that those who stick to it religiously should tuck the Constitution under their arms and take a walk around Kosovo-Metohija.
"On behalf of all of us, I am telling him (Dacic) to take this Brussels agreement and come here and implement it together with Hasim Taci," Pantic said.
The joint session of the four northern Kosovo Serb municipalities is underway in Zvecan. It is expected that after the meeting, the councilors will adopt conclusions on the Brussels-based dialogue.
He said he is afraid that Friday is D-Day and that Belgrade's negotiators will be pressed hard in Brussels to accept something that is neither in the interests of the Republic of Serbia, nor of the Serbian people, both in Serbia and in KiM.
"I wish to remind all those in Belgrade that they should abide by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, where it says that Kosovo-Metohija is an integral part of Serbia and that no one has the right to put their signature on a document where it will be said that the municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija (that function under the Serbian constitution) are to be transformed into municipalities that will function under Albanian legislation," Pantic said.
He stressed that northern Kosovo Serbs want Serbia to make progress on the European path and that they want to become part of the EU themselves, but not as citizens of "the Republic of Kosovo."
"It is our commitment to honestly, unanimously, and without any harsh words against anyone state our position that we will not accept any impositions, no matter whether they come from the international community, Albanians or our own government," said Pantic.
He pointed out that no one has the right to be persuading the Serbs in northern Kosovo that they will live better after the commanders of police stations in Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic are Serbs, since the commanders there have already been Serbs, and so this is no compromise at all.
"No one has the right to be telling us that we will have an appellate court in Kosovska Mitrovica where Serbs will constitute a majority of employees, while nobody is informing us that we will be getting confirmations that a person has not been convicted in documents with the seal of 'the Republic of Kosovo'," Pantic said.
"If the Serbian government considers this not to be good, it has mechanisms at its disposal by which in can disband local municipal assemblies, introduce municipal councils instead and then implement this agreement without us," Pantic said in his address to councilors.
We do not want to take part in that, Pantic said, calling on the councilors from the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo to remain as one just as they have been all these years.
Pantic pointed out that Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has recently stated that the Constitution is no gospel, is not written in stone and that those who stick to it religiously should tuck the Constitution under their arms and take a walk around Kosovo-Metohija.
"On behalf of all of us, I am telling him (Dacic) to take this Brussels agreement and come here and implement it together with Hasim Taci," Pantic said.
The joint session of the four northern Kosovo Serb municipalities is underway in Zvecan. It is expected that after the meeting, the councilors will adopt conclusions on the Brussels-based dialogue.
