Thaci says six points "are dead"

30 November 2008

Hashim Thaci sent a message to Kosovo's public and that abroad on Sunday, saying that the six-point plan should be forgotten.The Kosovo premier was referring to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's plan on EULEX deployment, adopted by the UN Security Council earlier this week, based on an agreement between the world organization and official Belgrade, known as the six-point plan.

"Forget the six points, it will not be applied in Kosovo, they are not our topic, the topic is to implement the will of the people of Kosovo, to build and develop a state, to implement President Ahtisaari's document – the six points are dead," Thaci was quoted as saying while meeting with residents of a village near Prizren. Another reason for the plan to be forgotten, he continued, is because the six points are Belgrade's "bad dreams", saying that Priština's goal was to prevent the plan from becoming a part of any document.

Thaci also commented on President Boris Tadić's initiative to revise the Kumanovo accords, by saying that international officials and those from Belgrade can talk about problems "inside Serbia but not in Kosovo". He went on to say that Kosovo has "its army, its security organs, NATO", and that Kosovo's "sovereignty and integrity are inalienable". "Each Serb soldier and the Serb administration have left Kosovo, but Belgrade's dream remains, I will not prevent them from having that dream, but those dreams have died in Kosovo," said Thaci. He also stated that EULEX has an EU mandate, "and can function only within that mandate, respecting Kosovo's constitution and Kosovo's reality".

"I will ask for EULEX to become operational, I offer our full cooperation, and EULEX should operate in the north of [Kosovska] Mitrovica from day one." Thaci thanked all Kosovo Albanian political parties and civil sector for their unanimous position on the rejection of the six point plan. Beta news agency said in its report from Prizren today that Thaci "did not rule out the possibility of frustrated individuals", but that, "according to him, Kosovo's official position is acceptable to most Kosovo residents". Thaci also commented on the controversy over the arrest and release of three German intelligence agency officers in Priština, by saying that this was a matter "of implementation of laws and one for the judiciary, which means that politics should be kept as far as possible".