Is Kosovo, which today marks the seventh anniversary of the unilateral declaration of independence, closer to the “chair” in the UN, bearing in mind the results of the Brussels talks, announced legally binding agreement between Belgrade and Pristina and the number of 96 countries that recognized Kosovo.
“Serbia has a stable support of the Security Council, as the highest body of the United Nations, for its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The UN is our house and we just found a foothold in the UN Charter and other fundamental documents of the world organization. Those documents were adopted on the basis of the lessons that people learned from the horrors of the Second World War- lessons how to protect small countries, like our, from the seizure of the territory and violent redrawing of borders. Brussels Agreement which relates to the creation of the Community/Association of Serbian municipalities has nothing to do with it,” says in an interview Marko Djuric, Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija.
According to which laws will work the courts in northern Kosovo?
Since the arrival of international forces in 1999, autonomously from other parts of the country, in our southern province is functioning legal framework created by the Pristina parliament. Serbs are now part of this parliament and regulations this parliament adopt will be applied.
When is the deadline for abolishment of judicial institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, and what are the guarantees that Serbs who have opposed integration in the Kosovo system (through barricades and other ways) will not be prosecuted?
This agreement creates new judicial institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, which will replace those institutions which, due to the circumstances from 1999, could not function. We expect that the process will begin as soon as possible. In regards to the prosecution of people who were exposed to political persecution, The Law on Amnesty as a part of the Brussels agreement obliges Pristina to impartially and legally implement it.
Whose property Belgrade will negotiate in Brussels if Kosovo, according to the Constitution, is part of Serbia? Will it be a process of dissociation in which Serbia will transfer its rights to Kosovo Serbs, and which combined with the appropriate Kosovo laws would create that all mineral and natural resources south of the river (including deposits of lignite for the next 16 centuries, all reserves of chromium in Serbia, the mineral wealth of Trepca etc.) will be handed over to Pristina?
The public is aware that the representatives of Pristina would like to talk about succession in Brussels. For us, of course, such talks are impossible, because one state cannot talk with part of its territory. What we want to discuss is the status of all kind of property (the state, social, church, private). Much of this property was taken away or even privatized by unilateral acts of Pristina. Therefore, we don’t have effective control over this property. However, the law is on our side. The property in the civilized world is unalienable category, and we have practically documents that show where and how the state of Serbia invested in Kosovo. I believe that ignoring the law in this matter is not in the interest of the Western countries that recognized the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo. This dialogue has not even started and it is too early for anyone to anticipate its outcome.
