The UN welcomes Serbia’s efforts to join the EU and compliments it on the activities towards that end.
The recent formal start of the talks with the EU is a historic achievement for Serbia, and it is also good for the Western Balkans and the EU, he stated.
The start of the accession talks indicates in many ways the extent of Serbia’s transformation, and that it enjoys full respect as a member of the international community, with an image that has improved significantly, he noted.
As things are now, recognition of Kosovo is not required for EU membership, and as long as there are those in the EU who do not recognize Kosovo and the things within the UN Security Council remain as they are, there will be no such pressure, he believes.
The EU has faith in the talks between Belgrade and Pristina and the UN strongly supports the EU’s positive role in the dialogue, Due said.
Commenting on UNMIK’s role, he said the things in Kosovo had changed a lot since 1999, when he served there, and in a positive sense, but added that Kosovo was still facing numerous challenges and that UNMIK now had a much more modest role than in 1999.
However, Resolution 1244 is still in power and will remain so as long as the UN Security Council finds it necessary and UNMIK will stay in Kosovo as long as the resolution is in force, he explained.
The UN is also willing to help implement the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina that was facilitated by the EU, and if asked to do anything more in connection with it, the UN will be pleased to do it, Due pointed out.
The UN Office in Belgrade is also the UNMIK office in Belgrade, Due remarked, explaining that he was at the same time the representative of the UN secretary general and UNMIK, which is headed by Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Farid Zarif.
The overall picture of the region is positive and there has been great progress in security, politics, economy and towards uniting the region, which is helped greatly by ambitions of EU membership.
