Referendum on Kosovo deal - "but with one condition"
SOURCE: B92
BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vučić addressed a news conference to say that the authorities are prepared to call a referendum on the Kosovo agreement recently reached in Brussels.


 

(Tanjug)

(Tanjug)
The first deputy prime minister and leader of the ruling SNS party made the statement after his meeting in Belgrade on Thursday with representatives of Serbs from Kosovo, who said they would not implement the deal.

Vučić, however, said that a referendum would be called "with the condition that everyone would be under obligation to accept the answer of the majority".

"We cannot do much without unity. If there is the need, the popular will is going to be reexamined, but only with one goal and with one condition - that we come out of it united, that is to say, for everyone to be obligated to, in the end, support the answer of the majority," he was quoted as saying.

According to Vučić, the calling of the plebiscit "no longer depends on us, but on those who will provide the answer to the condition, and decide whether Serbia will be united after the referendum".

"That means that in case the agreement is accepted, Serbs from Kosovo must accept to take part in its implementation. This is not about hiding behind anything, we are clearly stating what we want, We have a clear position of the government, a majority support in parliament. I believe that 80 percent of people are not happy about the agreement, but they understand that the government did the only possible. I believe a majority would say yes in the referendum, not only to the agreement, but also to the future of the country," Vučić said, and reintrated that in case the citizens reject the deal, that would mean "his resignation and fall of the government".

"In case Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija on Tuesday say that this is their demand and respond to this condition, the referendum will be held in 15 days," he said, and added:

"Several days after the initialing of the Brussels agreement there is a fierce campaign against it in a part of the public, a campaign that is understandable from the point of view of Kosovo Serbs, but which contains untruths, and I would dare say also lies."

When prompted by a reporter, he mentioned the opposition of the Serbian Orthodox Church to the deal, to say he was "disappointed" with the Holy Synod's statement on the issue, and to reject "all objections" to article 14 of the agreement, saying that those who thought the country's current leadership was fighting for their political offices "were wrong":

"We are fighting for the people and Serbia's chances. We are ashamed of nothing and we are not afraid. The problem is that some people are used to using the hardest possible words, insults and threats to shake someone's resolve. We were tormented for nights, thinking and fighting for each word of the agreement, in order to reach something better. If somebody thinks they can do better, go ahead. But they will have to have a majority of the citizens of Serbia behind them first."

"We have been taking care of the interests of our people, guarantees for security, Serbia was not dismantling I don't know which kind of institutions," the deputy PM was heard saying, and adding:

"There are solutions that are not great, but there are solutions that are certainly better than the current factual state of affairs. The key is not in understanding of the agreement, but in the fact that Serbia came out with a formed position for the first time since the 1990s, speaking about the future for the first time, and not history, and for the first time the international community is speaking as if they owe us something. That's a historic turnabout."

Asked whether a possible referendum would "slow down the implementation of the agreement," Vučić answered that he thought "the solving of the situation can only speed up the implementation," and noted:

"The way this is going, it's obvious it will be anguish, and more anguish. If we're supposed to go for showdowns, blackmail - we have no intention of doing that, those are our people."