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Serbia "annuls" coming Kosovo independence and EU mission
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 14 - 02 - 2008

The Serbian government Thursday "annulled" a
declaration of independence that the Kosovo leadership is expected to
announce shortly and in addition denounced the European Union mission
planned to help the emerging country, according to dpa.
"This is a decision of historic significance - the foundation of
Serbia's national programme in Kosovo ... in the coming period,"
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told a press conference after the
cabinet meeting.
The decision annulling the "illegal unilateral declaration of
independence ... (and) all acts violating Serbian integrity" would be
activated when Kosovo announces its move.
The declaration was also to be sent to the Serbian parliament for
an emergency vote once Pristina makes its move. "It is an event that
will become reality in a few days," Kostunica said.
Backed by big Western powers, Kosovo leaders, representing the
90-per-cent ethnic Albanian majority in the province, are expected to
remain unperturbed and declare secession on Sunday.
Addressing "all citizens of Kosovo," Kostunica said they "have the
full right not to recognize" the Kosovo authorities and promised them
legal protection - but without explaining how this protection would
be provided as Serbia was effectively ousted from Kosovo by a NATO
intervention in 1999.
The ethnic Albanians are impatiently awaiting the split from
Serbia.
Belgrade also appealed on Kosovo Serbs to remain in their homes,
promising them support, which Kostunica said would include funds from
the state budget.
Serbia has in the past already passed several resolutions and even
a new constitution to affirm its legal claim on Kosovo, which
nevertheless continued its slide toward independence with the support
of the United States and leading EU countries.
Also on Thursday, the UN Security Council is to hold a closed-door
debate on the anticipated move by Kosovo. The meeting was called by
Serbia, but is not expected to turn the tide, despite Russia's
support.
Speaking in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin repeated earlier
accusations that supporting Kosovo's independence was "illegal and
immoral," Belgrade media reported.
With the power of veto in the Security Council, Russia is backing
Serbia's claim of sovereignty over Kosovo and has last year already
blocked a plan to promote the province into a new country by a UN
decision.
As a consequence, the province will split from Serbia in a
unilateral move that will quickly be recognized by the West. The EU
decision to send a law-enforcement mission with the aim of helping
Kosovo along its first sovereign steps has infuriated Kostunica.
Serbia's latest resolution also brands the EU mission as illegal
and dismisses in advance any consequences it may produce. Kostunica
said that the mission had no "legal basis" to send the mission, but
acknowledged that it may nevertheless be physically deployed."
Answering questions during the briefing Kostunica, was repeatedly
forced to acknowledge that Serbia had no means other than
"determined" and "persistent" diplomatic measures to prevent the
developments in Kosovo.
In protest at the plan, Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia
last week already refused a political and economic cooperation
agreement offered by EU, which has however strained the already
uneasy government coalition.
The strife between Kostunica and the pro-European part of his
government coalition, grouped around President Boris Tadic, produced
a week-long deadlock in which neither the cabinet nor parliament were
able to meet.
The impasse was overcome when Tadic, who heads the Democratic
Party, agreed to the decision and draft resolution annulling any pro-
independence acts by Kosovo's authorities.
That has also paved the way for a parliament session on Friday in
which Tadic is to be inaugurated after winning re-election on
February 3. The assembly would presumably meet again early next week,
after Kosovo declares independence.
But the simmering government crisis would likely erupt when
relations with the EU also return to the agenda, possibly when
Brussels renews its offer of closer political and economic ties.
While Tadic insists that Serbia must remain on course to
membership of EU, Kostunica would certainly remain hostile to
Brussels.
"There would be no greater humiliation than to sign and give even
indirect consent to the puppet creation on its soil," Kostunica said
in an interview released Thursday, referring to the rejected
cooperation deal which would, in his words, have legitimized the
upcoming EU mission to Kosovo.
In the interview with the Glas Javnosti daily, Kostunica also
dismissed accusations that he was blocking Serbia's integration with
Europe over Kosovo.
"Serbia is neither in Asia, nor in Latin America, but in the heart
of Europe, Serbia belongs to Europe and nothing can change that," he
said.
However, Tadic's Democratic Party and the smallest side in the
three-way coalition, the reformist G17 Plus party, said Serbia must
progress toward EU membership regardless of Kosovo.
Officials of the pro-European camp said that early elections would
remain the only option if Kostunica continued to block agreements
leading the country closer to EU integration.


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