President discusses Tadić's gesture, new govt., Kosovo

Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- President Tomislav Nikolić says Boris Tadić told him he would travel to the Croatia Summit - but not that he intended to shake hands with Hashim Thaci.

Nikolić arrives at the Patriarchate building (Tanjug)

Democratic Party (DS) leader Tadić was Serbia's president for two terms since 2004. He was defeated by Nikolić in the May 20 presidential runoff.
Commenting on Tadić's gesture, Nikolić stressed that he himself "would not shake hands with Thaci".

Speaking after his meeting with Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej in Belgrade on Monday, the president stated that he would not have recommended to Tadić to engage in the handshake, considering Thaci is a person suspected of committing very serious crimes:

"That's some kind of personal gesture of his (Tadić's), I spoke about that today with the (U.S.) State Department representative, and told him I do not know what Mr. Tadić wished to achieve by that, except perhaps to demonstrate that he was invited to where I cannot go. However, there's something I cannot do that he apparently can: I cannot shake hands with a person that they say committed crimes against Serbs, not before it has been determined whether he had."

Nikolić also emphasized that Tadić as a citizen has a right to go where he wishes, but noted that the leader of the Democrats was behind the policy that states that Serbian officials should not attend gatherings attended by those from Priština.

"I think we can town down passions in Serbia. I spoke to His Holiness (Irinej) about Kosovo and told him that we need some type of consensus, while he said that the Church would never shy away from taking the responsibility,," Nikolić said, and added that by "consensus", he meant "above all agreement of parliamentary parties about the solution to the problem of Kosovo".

"Government needed urgently to deal with economy"

Tomislav Nikolić on Monday urged for forming the government as soon as possible to enable the country to deal with its accumulated economic problems.

"I hope we will have the government formed soon. I do not know what it will look like, but I know that the situation is a dire one and that it was high time we addressed the economic issues that nobody seems to care about anymore," Nikolić told reporters after meeting with Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej.

He said he had discussed the government forming issue with U.S. State Secretary Assistant Philip Gordon earlier today. He added that they had also touched on the situation in Kosovo, Serbia's European path and the way the U.S. could help Serbia's citizens live better.

Nikolić said they had had a fair exchange of opinions, during which the U.S. Department of State official had presented his own policy, as well as the powers and obligations he had under the Constitution.

Asked about what stance the future government would take regarding Vuk Jeremić's Chairmanship-in-Office of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Nikolić said he did not want to interfere with any of the Democratic Party's (DS) internal issues, but the new government would certainly have to adopt an opinion concerning the issue in question.

"Someone should submit a report to us about the projected expenses so that we could see if we have enough money for that or not, and if we do not have the money, we should apologize to the UNGA and ask them to select someone else to chair it," said the Serbian president.

"I would agree to talks with Jahjaga"

Tomislav Nikolić also stated on Monday that he would agree to talks with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, but during a formal meeting and not informally.

In response to reporters' question as to whether he would conduct talks with Jahjaga, Nikolić said that he does not see any reason why he would not confer with Pristina's representatives if the time comes for such talks.

"We need to decide whether we would keep walking out on meetings or whether we would fight for our stands,", Nikolić said and added that he supports Serbia's attendance at the meetings where its stands ought to be heard.

According to him, "a joint interpretation" of the agreements from Brussels need to be adopted so that it would be clear whether the Belgrade government agreed for the Priština interim institutions to be present at international forums at the same time as Serbia's representatives.

Jahjaga stated on Sunday that she is willing to conduct talks with the Serbian president and added that only Nikolić and herself, "as legal and legitimate heads of state", can conduct talks during which they would present the will of the people.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians unilaterally declared independence over four years ago, but Serbia rejected the proclamation as illegal.