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July 18, 2004
ERP KiM Newsletter 18-07-04 Belgrade Media Update, July 17-18 Seminar on Kosovo in Austria ended (RSCG) Aide to SCG Foreign Minister Ognjen Pribicevic positively assessed the work of a two-day gathering on decentralization and protection of minorities in Kosovo, which ended in Dirnstein near Vienna. He said that the subject of talks was the Belgian model, which is particularly interesting to Belgrade due to an exceptionally broad decentralization of power and efficient protection of various ethnic communities. Pribicevic assessed that there were also standards and mechanisms in Europe that could be applied to Kosovo, considering the specific nature of the southern Serbian province. Parliament to probe CCK (FoNet) The Serbian Parliaments kosovo.netmittee said that the CCK had ceased to operate effectively. The Committee has demanded an audit of the CCKs financial report and summoned Nebojsa Covic, who heads the body, to report on its work at a coming meeting of the committee. RSCG) Serbs in Kosovo should participate at the forthcoming general elections in the province only if the international community guarantees them territorial and political autonomy, without which their survival is impossible, it was assessed at a gathering organized by the SNC for Kosovo. The situation in the province has dramatically deteriorated, and the Serb community is faced with an exodus, majority domination and assimilation, it was stated at the gathering. Serbs in Kosovo are asking for full implementation of UNSCR 1244, establishment of autonomy based on the Serbian governments plan and the creation of conditions for the return of the exiled, representatives of the Serb community underlined. Todorovic placed all functions at KPs disposal (Beta) The co-Minister in the Kosovo government Milorad Todorovic has put at disposal his functions in KP over the signing of the Declaration that had been signed by Kosovo Albanian and Serb leaders in the Kosovo Assembly. He told Jagodina TV Palma Plus that he told the head of the US Office in Pristina that his signature on that document was null and void since he didnt have legitimacy for something like that, and also because none of the remarks brought forward by the Serb side entered the final draft. I am aware that a premature signing implies responsibility and I am ready to bear it, so I placed all of my functions at KPs disposal, said Todorovic and added the Serbian government should have been consulted about the plan as well. Kostunica meets Amato (RSCG) The solving of issues of safety and protection of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo must become a priority, assessed Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and a delegation of the International Commission for the Balkans, led by Giuliano Amato. It was concluded in the talks that the fact that the government had made a concrete proposal of decentralization of the province was very important, as the proposal represented a good starting-point and that other models and proposals on decentralization should also be discussed, it was announced from the Serbian government. Amato said that the International Commission for the Balkans was discussing possibilities for engaging EU member-states in Kosovo in the forthcoming period. Geoana meets Kostunica, Draskovic and Davinic (RTS) In his talks with Romanian head of diplomacy Mircea Geoana, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has stated that progress had been made in building institutions of the State Union and establishment of the rule of law and judiciary independence. He has assessed that Romanian support to Serbia and Montenegro is important in the process of European integration. Kostunica has pointed to the difficult position of the Serb population in Kosovo, emphasizing that survival and the respect of the basic human right the right to life must be secured for all non-Albanians. Geoana has stated that Romania actively supports SCG in the process of European integration, and pledges full respect of UNSCR 1244. Geoana has underlined that Romania will propose steps which will enable additional facilitation and liberalization of the visa regime between the two countries. Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana has stated that it is time for a serious discussion on the situation in the region, expressing his belief that numerous initiatives on the Kosovo issue will encourage a direct Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. After the meeting with SCG Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, Geoana pointed out that the future of the region and Kosovo is European, that is, the respect of European values, including the rights of minorities. Draskovic has expressed gratitude to Geoana and the Romanian government for their intense pledging for the return of Serbs to Kosovo and for giving international guarantees for their safety. In talks between SCG Defence Minister Prvoslav Davinic and Mircea Geoana, it was assessed that positive processes were becoming stronger in the region of South-Eastern Europe, but that there were security problems such as Kosovo. Davinic emphasized that the final status of Kosovo could not be discussed as long as there was ethnic cleansing of Serbs and other nations, which negates any democratic development, and that certain Albanian extremists, former members of the terrorist KLA, were still present in Kosovo politics. Bildt: Decentralization only way for resolving problems (RTS/Tanjug) Decentralization of authorities is the only way to solve the problems of Serbs in Kosovo, stated the President of the International Commission for the Balkans Carl Bildt after his talks with Serbs in Staro Gradsko and the leadership of Lipljan Municipality. Underlining that he has experience in solving similar problems and that the process could be a long one, the former special U.N. envoy for B-H said in a brief statement to reporters that he is confident that something will be done in this field. The President of the Municipality of Lipljan, Borivoje Vignjevic, has stated that a serious position of Serbs in Kosovo was presented at the meeting. He has emphasized that since the arrival of international forces in 1999, over 40 Serbs have been killed in the municipality of Lipljan. Everybody needs decentralization of authorities in the province if we want to create a multiethnic Kosovo, Vignjevic said. Kosovo ombudsman wrote to Lalovic (FoNet) Kosovo ombudsman Marek Nowicki has requested information from the Serbian Minister for Labour, Employment and Welfare Policy, Slobodan Lalovic, on the treatment of Kosovo inhabitants who seek pensions from the Republic of Serbia. According to information that is available to me, Kosovo inhabitants of Serb nationality, like other non-Albanians in Kosovo, have been receiving pensions from 1999 on a regular basis, Nowicki said in his letter. If the inhabitants of Kosovo, who seek pensions from Serbia, are divided into two categories Albanian and non-Albanian pensioners, Nowicki requested an explanation on what legal grounds was the division based on and the reasons for such treatment. TOP
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