Koštunica agrees with Lavrov: SAA long overdue
1 May 2008 | 21:49 -> 22:09 | Source: Tanjug
BELGRADE -- Vojislav Koštunica says Serbia should have signed the SAA long
before the 18 EU countries recognized the unlawful independence of Kosovo.
Speaking at the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce, the prime minister and the
Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader said that the question Brussels
should be asked now is why the SAA had not been signed earlier, before the
Montenegrin referendum of 2006, which is when the negotiations with the EU
were "halted by a unilateral and unfair decision of Brussels."
Koštunica commented on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
<http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2008&mm=04&dd=30&nav_
id=49850> Lavrov's statement yesterday that the deal should have been signed
earlier by saying that he agreed with this stance.
"Minister Lavrov is right. The SAA is now in a phase when the unilateral
declaration of independence took place and when the initialed version of the
agreement is contested – annulled by 18 [EU member] states that have
recognized Kosovo's unilateral independence," he told an audience of the
capital city's businessmen.
Koštunica added that the agreement has to be added to the parliament agenda,
because the parliament adopted a resolution last December which explicitly
says that every international agreement Serbia signs, the SAA in particular,
has to be in the function of preserving the state's integrity and
territorial sovereignty.
Koštunica said that the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA),
signed on Tuesday by his deputy in the caretaker government, Božidar Ðelic,
DS, "is not in the function of Serbia's territorial integrity."
Koštunica also accused President Boris Tadic's Democrats (DS) of "trying
hard to hide their shame behind other people's words, the shame of signing
the Solana agreement about Kosovo's independence", and added, "but they will
not manage to fool Serbians".
"It is utterly unacceptable for the DS to take the Russian diplomacy chief's
words out of context in order to justify their shameful signature on
Solana's agreement for Kosovo and Metohija's independence," he said.
"A new government and parliament will immediately annul this
anti-Constitutional signature, because Serbia will never recognize Kosovo's
independence. And, all the shame and all the responsibility falls on those
who signed Solana's agreement," Koštunica concluded.
