Pantic: Many issues remained unclear
The agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina is unnacceptable to the Serbs who live in four municipalities in northern Kosovo because many issues remained unclear, like citizenship and civil registry, deputy head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo Krstimir Pantic has said.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Friday, May 10, 2013
He told The press he did not like the sequence of the steps related to the implementation of the agreement, signed in Brussels on April 19.
"The logical sequence would be to first adopt a Constitutional law transferring jurisdictions of Serbian institutions to the association of Serb municipalities, whose formation is included in the agreement, Pantic pointed out.
"That would prevent an institutional vacuum, and afterwards local elections could be held, which Pristina obviously does not accept," he noted.
The agreement is unacceptable to the Serbs in northern Kosovo, because if it were accepted, they would not know their citizenship any longer.
"They asked Prime Minister Ivica Dacic which civil registry they would use to register their newborns and whose citizenship would they hold, that of Serbia or Kosovo, and they did not receive a reply," Pantic said.
Former state secretary for Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic remarked that a number of Kosovo Serb leaders had gone too far in their rejection of the agreement.
"The fact is they got the people's support for that hard-line view, but reason has to prevail, because the Serbian government is the only safe refuge for all the Kosovo Serbs," Ivanovic told Tanjug.
"The only certain thing is there should be no conflict with the Serbian government," said Ivanovic, who is also the president of the Civil Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice.
Head of the Kosovo committee of the Serbian Renewal Movement Randjel Nojkic accused those who oppose the agreement of hypocrisy in claiming it terminated Serbian institutions in Kosovo and that they did not want to integrate into institutions created by the ehtnic Albanians after the illegal secession.
Those same Serbs from northern Kosovo did not mind the institutions in Pristina when they used them to build and legalize their property, nor the fact that their parents or cousins receive pension from the consolidated Kosovo budget, Nojkic explained.
Kosovo parliament member Rada Trajkovic believes the agreement is an opportunity to continue the battle for the interest of the Kosovo Serbs.
We have to keep in mind the country's position, that NATO is in Kosovo, that Serbia has obligations agreed with NATO and the EU, she told Tanjug.
EU integration depends on the implementation of the agreement, she noted, adding that it would be of great help to Serbia. "Only when Serbia is strong can we in Kosovo be strong," Trajkovic underscored.
"The logical sequence would be to first adopt a Constitutional law transferring jurisdictions of Serbian institutions to the association of Serb municipalities, whose formation is included in the agreement, Pantic pointed out.
"That would prevent an institutional vacuum, and afterwards local elections could be held, which Pristina obviously does not accept," he noted.
The agreement is unacceptable to the Serbs in northern Kosovo, because if it were accepted, they would not know their citizenship any longer.
"They asked Prime Minister Ivica Dacic which civil registry they would use to register their newborns and whose citizenship would they hold, that of Serbia or Kosovo, and they did not receive a reply," Pantic said.
Former state secretary for Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic remarked that a number of Kosovo Serb leaders had gone too far in their rejection of the agreement.
"The fact is they got the people's support for that hard-line view, but reason has to prevail, because the Serbian government is the only safe refuge for all the Kosovo Serbs," Ivanovic told Tanjug.
"The only certain thing is there should be no conflict with the Serbian government," said Ivanovic, who is also the president of the Civil Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice.
Head of the Kosovo committee of the Serbian Renewal Movement Randjel Nojkic accused those who oppose the agreement of hypocrisy in claiming it terminated Serbian institutions in Kosovo and that they did not want to integrate into institutions created by the ehtnic Albanians after the illegal secession.
Those same Serbs from northern Kosovo did not mind the institutions in Pristina when they used them to build and legalize their property, nor the fact that their parents or cousins receive pension from the consolidated Kosovo budget, Nojkic explained.
Kosovo parliament member Rada Trajkovic believes the agreement is an opportunity to continue the battle for the interest of the Kosovo Serbs.
We have to keep in mind the country's position, that NATO is in Kosovo, that Serbia has obligations agreed with NATO and the EU, she told Tanjug.
EU integration depends on the implementation of the agreement, she noted, adding that it would be of great help to Serbia. "Only when Serbia is strong can we in Kosovo be strong," Trajkovic underscored.
