Serbian govt. fails to agree on declaration on Kosovo

BELGRADE -- The Serbian government did not manage to agree on the final draft declaration on Kosovo on Friday, B92 has learned.

Oliver Ivanović (Beta, file)
Oliver Ivanović (Beta, file)

The ruling parties were unable to agree on the details of the draft.

It is therefore still uncertain when the Serbian parliament will discuss Kosovo.

Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanović told B92 that the adoption of the declaration was a very sensitive issue because it represented a turning point in Belgrade's attitude toward Kosovo.

He stressed that he did not expect differences to arise between the northern Kosovo Serbs and the government regarding the barricades but added that the local Serbs were unlikely accept a plan on integrated administrative crossings.

“I am sure that the barricades represent a serious foundation for finding of a better solution,“ the state secretary explained.

According to him, 99 percent of the northern Kosovo Serbs will be against deployment of the Albanian customs officers to the administrative crossings.

When asked whether the ruling coalition was “cracking” in terms of the Kosovo issue, Ivanović said that just because the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) was advocating a different position it did not mean that the government had “changed the course”.

Councilors of four northern Kosovo Serb municipalities announced on Friday that the agreements reached with Priština were contrary to the interests of the Serbian people and that they would not allow their implementation in their municipalities.

The northern Kosovo municipal representatives sent conclusions to the Serbian government and parliament, repeating that “presence of any customs and border police at the Jarinje and Brnjak administrative crossings is unacceptable and they can never become border crossings“.

Belgrade team chief Borislav Stefanović, on the other hand, pointed out that the agreements that had been reached were not contrary to the interests of Kosovo Serbs and that all state organs needed to implement decisions of their state.

Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić told B92 that the northern Kosovo Serb municipal representatives had requested from the government to reconsider continuation of the dialogue with Priština and constitutionality of the agreements that had been reached so far.