President Tomislav Nikolic’s made a statement regarding his government’s plans to forge a new agreement with regard to Kosovo (the 12th resolution on Kosovo and Metohija) and it is now the subject of some debate. Nikolic was the initiator of last year’s resolution on the political talks with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Kosovo, where he laid out a platform to resolve the Kosovo issue.
Although Nikolic’s first version of the document was somewhat changed (it originally provided a possibility to stop negotiations with Pristina), the second version was actually an explanation of the resolution adopted in Parliament on 13 January 2013.
After the latest round of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels, the Serbian President was confident that the new government, given the sensitivity of the issues being discussed in Brussels, must come up with a strategy on how to move forward, and that the Parliament will have to declare on it.
“From the moment when the Brussels Treaty was achieved, more things happened that were unforeseen: the transition to the armed forces of Kosovo without any discussion and different events in the world that could shake the confidence of Pristina and lead Belgrade to think about whether to offer a final solution for Kosovo, which would be consistent with the Constitution, international law and reality,” Nikolic said.
Milovan Drecun, President of the Parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, recalls that a key objective of the parliamentary resolution last year was the establishment of the Community of Serbian municipalities and states that these principles and guidelines of state policy can be changed only by a new parliamentary resolution.
“Given the fact that part of it is realized from the resolution (the first Brussels agreement was reached and now it is being implemented), I suppose President Nikolic believes that the new government should give further guidance in the form of the repetition of key principles, perhaps the definition of new ones,” Drecun told Politika.
Regarding Nikolic’s position that the new agreement is required for the dialogue with Pristina, given the new circumstances, a source said that the Parliament can define its position within the resolution that we find unacceptable. Furthermore, the formation of some armed forces of Kosovo does not lead to the normalization of relations, because it is contrary to resolution 1244 and can define the attitude towards the redefinition of the EULEX mission, because international presence is extremely important for Serbia.
Drecun recalls that the coming issues are property, return of displaced persons, the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church and many other extremely important issues. “All of these topics are sensitive, so they may need to appear in a new resolution to be adopted by the Parliament that would give the government a mandate to continue the process of the normalization of relations,” says Drecun.
Political analyst Dusan Janjic believes that the Kosovo policy should be corrected. “Experience says: whoever in Serbia grabbed to a final solution of Kosovo introduced a lot of troubles to Serbia; it was (Slobodan) Milosevic, later (Vojislav) Kostunica, together with (Boris) Tadic,” Janjic said, warning that the term “final solution” should be used with caution, reports Tanjug.
Commenting on the statement made by President Nikolic that he is ready to propose a new resolution on Kosovo if he is asked to do so, Janjic said that after the elections and everything that happened, including the Brussels Agreement of 15 points, certainly some kind of policy adjustment is needed, primarily when referring to the Constitution, because it is a barrier for implementing the what was agreed.
Borislav Stefanovic, an official of the Democratic Party, believes that the first thing that should be seen is what Nikolic’s document suggests. “Let’s see whether the government may have dared to present something more precise with respect to the following process, and if the resolution excuses what they already agreed,” he says.
In connection with Nikolic’s view that the new assembly document is required due to new circumstances, Stefanovic said that the announcement of the formation of the armed forces and the revision of EULEX’s mandate include new elements in the Kosovo process, but not new for the negotiating process. “It would be a terrible mistake if we had entered into negotiations about the Kosovo Army, for example, thereby giving legitimacy to such a move, which is contrary to resolution 1244,” he warns.
“Therefore, whether Nikolic’s proposal is either an attempt to provide an alibi for something that has already been agreed, and the public does not know or another political toy thrown in front of parliament to distract from what is more important to the lives of citizens,” concludes Stefanovic, who told Tanjug that the DS will consider any possible suggestion of the future resolution on Kosovo and Metohija, which reaches the Parliament.
