"EULEX should protect all Serbs" 20 October 2009 | 13:46 | Source: B92, Politika
BELGRADE -- Kosovo Minister Goran Bogdanović says that EULEX should focus more attention on the safety of the Serb community in Kosovo. "We are prepared to be constructive to the point where it does not endanger our national interests in Kosovo," Bogdanović told daily Politika, following the European Commission's report calling on Serbia to be more constructive in issues related to Kosovo. "We have shown a great level of constructiveness and our political will has been confirmed with a number of activities: the return of Serbs to the KPS, the signing of the police protocol with the intention of intensifying cooperation. We have acted constructively in relation to matters of supplying electricity to Kosovo, and we have successful registered displaced persons interested in returning," Bogdanović said. "When they say 'more' they probably mean in the judicial system and customs," Bogdanović said of the EC's demands. "When I met in Brussels with Council of Europe Director for Foreign and Military Affairs Robert Cooper and other officials, I said that we were ready to talk, and that we wanted to be constructive, but that these were problems that needed more time," Bogdanović said, adding that talks had begun early this year and ended abruptly in May. He said that all of the blame for the suspension of these talks rested with the international community, and that Serbia "was ready to continue talking, as we are today." "We cannot consent to having cases tried under the laws of the so-called state of Kosovo, and to have Albanians as judges in northern Mitrovica, or have the income collected from the administrative crossings go towards the Kosovo budget," he said. "These are problems we are ready to talk about, but these are principles that we won't back down from," Bogdanović said. He said that he had got the impression of a sense of good will for solving these problems at the talks in Brussels. "The income must go to the Serb community in Kosovo, and the court and judges in northern Mitrovica must operate using laws that existed up to 1989. Also, the jurisdiction of the courts has to be known," Bogdanović said, adding that a "constructive role of Serbia" was expected in the court system and customs, but that Serbia's "stances are completely clear" in these areas. "I saw that there was a readiness to meet a large portion of our demands," Bogdanović said, adding that "as far as we are concerned, we are ready today" to continue negotiations.
