March 15th
2004
By Andrea
Saula
SLUG: Is the change of the government in Belgrade going to bring any significant shifts in existing policy towards Kosovo? What does the Serbian Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica’s speech in front the Parliament about cantonization of Kosovo mean? In this edition of UNMIK on AIR Serbian reaction from political observers and players: we have an exclusive interview with acting President of Serbia Predrag Markovic, hear from the current head of the Coordination Center for Kosovo or CCK, Nebojsa Covic, talk to the potential new Director of CCK, Dusan Janjic, and Serbian political analyst Jelena Milic weighs in on major points in Belgrade’s developing policy towards Kosovo.
Hello and welcome. This is UNMIK on AIR:
Two months after elections were held in Serbia, a government
is now seated in Belgrade. A coalition
of the Democratic party of Serbia, G17 Plus, the Serbian Renewal Movement and
New Serbia parties have formed the new government with socialist support.
In highly anticipated statements made by the new Prime
Minister Vojislav Kostunica, he announced that issues involving Kosovo will be
a top priority of the new government.
During his first few days in power, Kostunica declared to
Parliament that his Government would call for the cantonization of Kosovo along
ethnic lines.
Shortly after that announcement, word of the creation of a
new Ministry for Kosovo circulated in Belgrade as the finalization of a new Constitution
is currently in the works.
As Kostunica’s proposal
to create cantons or partitions in Kosovo is still unclear in international and
Serbian political circles- the idea is already rejected on many fronts.
UNMIK SRSG Harri Holkeri responded
saying “The partition of Kosovo is not an issue we can discuss,” “On the basis
of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, these kinds of ideas or proposals are
not on the table.”
In an exclusive interview for UNMIK radio, Predrag Markovic,
parliament speaker and acting president of Serbia said that the Prime
Minister's speech on Kosovo is likely building from of a proposal made in
December of 2003 by Kosovo-Serbs calling for two entities in Kosovo, Serbian
and Albanian:
Predrag Markovic: Talking about Kosovo, in his
expose, Mr. Kostunica, among other things, indicated a great understanding of
his Government in Serbia, by satisfying representatives from a range of
political parties in his coalition and Serbs in Kosovo with these statements. That is the attempt to solve the problem in
two steps. In the first step there is pressure on finding some solution and
that could be entities.
It is not discussed in the assembly the idea of
cantonization. But that proposal aims to guarantee security in Kosovo and also
the return of IDPs.
Specifics surrounding Kostunica’s cantonization
proposal also seems unclear to the current head of the Coordination Center for
Kosovo, Nebojsa Covic.
During a recent press conference in Belgrade, Covic
indicated that Kostunica’s speech could be just rhetoric to satisfy his
coalition partners. Covic-- whose future is uncertain as the head of the
CCK as the new Serbian government takes its seat-- announced during the press conference that cantonization of
Kosovo is not a viable policy:
Nebojsa Covic: I have to say that entities and
cantons do not go together. The principle of leopard skin wasn’t’ successful
anywhere in the Balkans. The one thing is what we as politicians say to the
citizens but I think that between those we say in public and those things that
are happening cannot be different.
Dusan Janjic: it’ s more for internal and
domestic political games then a comprehensive strategy. Only what is important
and positive is that he, Kostunica, is open to negotiations. Perhaps negative
maybe not is the limit of the negotiation. Directly, he mentioned the issue of
status, which until now was a taboo. Maybe only ex prime minister Djindjic mentioned
that. That indeed is the statement that there is no right to negotiate about
independence. That means that the Government has the mandate only to negotiate
in defend of the SCUNR 1244. So called internal status of Kosovo in Serbia.
Jelena Milic, a political analyst
with the Forum for International Relations in Belgrade thinks Kostunica’s
statements are not just a coalition strengthening measure but also a political
ploy to save face while washing the government’s hands of Kosovo. Milic says the statements are an attempt to
put something on the table and then Kostunica’s government will be in the
position to later say to the international community – QUOTE “you failed to
accept our proposal so the only option remaining that we can offer is to separate
Kosovo form Serbia.”
Jelena Milic: According to Kostunica and his
advisors this cantonization project is in accordance with CoE etc but at the
same time his attitude towards ICTY is not in accordance to CoE standards that
is pretty hypocritical and it is so obvious and it’s cheap. This is not
responsible towards Serbian population in Kosovo, towards anyone in Kosovo.
They don’t have concerns about all citizens of Kosovo which should be logically
if they do pretend to restore Kosovo, rule on Kosovo. So the only conclusion
that you can make is that they will leave behind all these poor people who live
in enclaves and forget about their destiny and demand some kind of special
protection of these bloody and so many churches and that they’re actually trying
to chop north part of Kosovo. It seems to me that some of them have hidden
inculcators and partners among Albanians in Kosovo who would like maybe to
overtake three municipalities in South Serbia.
But even as political analysts speculate on the outcome and
motivation for Kostunica’s latest proposals, officials in Belgrade assure that
the Serbian populations in Kosovo are a priority. Acting president of Serbia Predrag Markovic
said the Assembly is working on Constitutional guarantees which would protect
the rights of Serbian minority communities in Kosovo:
Predrag Markovic: The basic mechanism of the
Parliament of Serbia is the legislative decision. That’s the Constitution.
Serbia has to bring the Constitution. I think that already we have a consensus
of the parliamentary political parties.
In follow up questions posed by UNMIK on AIR, acting
President Markovic did not detail the specifics of the Constitutional
protections currently being hammered out in the Serbian Assembly.
Even as the majority of Serbian political analysts UNMIK on
Air interviewed for this story agree that Kostunica’s proposal may be a
political tool, analyst Dusan Janjic says perhaps existing political realities
forced a meaningful shift in Belgrade’s policy towards Kosovo.
Janjic, says the impending deadline in 2005 to review the
implementation process for the Standards in Kosovo may have prompted Belgrade
to re-think its policy towards the region:
Dusan
Janjic: For
Belgrade is so dangerous to wait for 2005 in this way, without any serious
policy, without any serious partners in the IC and without any serious autonomy
of local Serbs. Autonomy is not only autonomy from UNMIK but also from
Belgrade. They have to take the proper responsibility of many of the issues
that are mentioned in the standards for Kosovo. Why to negotiate with Belgrade
about health care. When they reach the agreement Belgrade has to close parallel
hospitals, same with the University.
Even so, Jelena Milic says she is skeptical about the intentions of Belgrade policy when politicians are varying the reading of UN resolution 1244. Milic says officials often cite UNR 1244 stating Kosovo is the southern part of Serbia, but fail to cite the last part of the sentence of the Resolution stating– Kosovo is the southern part of Serbia, until a final settlement is found.
Jelena Milic: What I can say for sure is
that no one can expect anything positive, I would say. It was pretty
complicated to detect and to track what was the Serbian politics on Kosovo
after the October the 5th. Besides that it was almost pushed under
the carpet and served only to mobilize on nationalistic bases I doubt that
anyone had any long-term politics and strategy and tactics. Besides for
undermining on permanent bases all International community efforts to implement
1244.
Even as initial statements from Kostunica about
Cantons in Kosovo make international headlines and generate reaction inside and
out of Serbia, Milic point out that issues such as impunity of war crimes
involving Serbian officials, cooperation with the ICTY and the current
dysfunctional Serbian State Union will all affect future Serbian policy towards
Kosovo. As the government is still in
transition and Dusan Janjic may soon be named head of the CCK, it is too early
to predict what the policy of the new Serbian government towards Kosovo will
look like.
That was all for this edition of UNMIK on AIR, thanks for
listening and stay tuned for more.