Belgrade, 12. 02. 2008.

SERBIA

• STATE LEADERSHIP SAYS WILL ANNUL INDEPENDENCE PROCLAMATION
• OSCE MISSION HEAD MEETS WITH KOSTRES AND PAJTIC
• DOCUMENTS FOR HAGUE TRIBUNAL APPROVED

• BILDT AND DJELIC DISCUSS SERBIA'S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
• INTEGRATION OF WEST BALKANS INTO EU TO PREVENT CONFRONTATION
• KACIN: PARTNERLIKE RELATIONS ONLY WAY INTO EU

• COUCHNER SAYS DECISION ON KOSOVO TO BE MADE SOON
• TIRK: RECOGNITION OF KOSOVO MATTER OF SOVEREIGN STATES, NOT UN
• OSCE MIGHT REMAIN IN KOSMET WITH NARROWER JURISDICTIONS
• JONSSON: DECISION ON SENDING EU MISSION SOON IN ITS OFFICIAL GAZETTE
• LIMDAL: PREPARATORY MISSION STAFF ARRIVES IN KOSOVO
• FLEINER ON LAWSUIT AGAINST COUNTRIES THAT RECOGNISE KOSOVO
• DODIK: RS WILL NOT RECOGNIZE KOSOVO
• CYPRIOT FM: CYPRUS NOT ALONE IN NOT RECOGNIZING INDEPENDENCE
• IVANOVIC : DECLARATION IS MERELY A DOCUMENT
• SOFRANAC: WE DON'T EXPECT MAJOR INFLUX OF REFUGEES

• KRAS EXPANDS IN SERBIA
• SERBIAN FOOD, BEVERAGE PRODUCERS AT MOSCOW FAIR

BELGRADE, Feb. 11 (Beta) - Serbian President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Parliament Speaker Oliver Dulic concluded on Feb. 11 that if Kosovo unilaterally proclaims independence, Serbian state institutions must take the necessary decisions and measures on annulling such an illegal act.

Tadic, Kostunica and Dulic affirmed the necessity of conducting a unified national policy for the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia in the face of the real threat of a proclamation of independence, the government of Serbia said in a press release.

The government's action plans for the eventuality of the province proclaiming independence are to be discussed at the Feb. 12 session of the National Security Council, called by Tadic, the press release reads.

Kostunica has called a session of the government for Feb. 14, the government's media office announced. A decision on annulling illegal acts proclaiming independence by the interim institutions in Kosovo, to become effective at the moment this occurs, is due to be passed at the session, the press release said.

The government will forward the decision to the Parliament for consideration and adoption.

The said decisions and activities are to confirm the unified state and national policy of Serbia, the announcement said.

novi sad, Feb. 11 (Beta) - Vojvodina Assembly President Bojan Kostres and the head of the OSCE mission in Serbia, Hans Ola Urstad, on Feb. 11 in Novi Sad discussed the political situation in the province after the Serbian presidential election.

A statement reads that Ambassador Urstad positively appraised the mass turnout of Serbia's citizens in the last election and said that it is encouraging for the future of Serbia that a large number of young people went to the polls.

Kostres emphasized that after the election the political situation is stable and that he is very satisfied with the fact that the people of Vojvodina displayed their political maturity and a clear orientation toward the European integration of Serbia.

The head of the OSCE mission also spoke with the president of the Executive Council of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtic, about the current political and economic situation in the country.

BELGRADE, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - The National Council for Cooperation with the Tribunal in the Hague decided on Monday to supply the tribunal with the documents and responses to four requests in proceedings before that court.

The office of Council President Rasim Ljajic said that positive responses were given to 14 defense requests referring to sending documents and responses necessary for preparing the defenses before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

BELGRADE, Feb. 11 (Beta) - Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic on Feb. 11 in Belgrade discussed the country's European future and the Kosovo issue, it was announced after the meeting.

At the discussion, Djelic said that Serbia would never recognize Kosovo's independence and emphasized that the arrival of a European mission in Kosovo is only possible if such a decision is made by the U.N. Security Council.

Bildt is staying in Belgrade, where he previously attended the opening of a regional forum on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

BELGRADE, Feb. 11 (Beta) - The Western Balkans must be integrated into the European Union to prevent new confrontation and its consequences, Jelko Kacin, the European Parliament's special envoy to Serbia, said on Feb. 11.

At the opening of a regional forum on instruments for establishing the facts about war crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Kacin said the EU aspired to expand into all conflictridden areas in Europe, including the Western Balkans.

The responsibility for events in the wars in the former Yugoslavia cannot be collective and we cannot allow any people or members of any faith to be called genocidal. A crime must have a first and last name, and each country must have the wisdom and strength to face the problem, Kacin said.

Serbian Parliament Speaker Oliver Dulic said crimes committed during the wars must be punished, as this was owed to the victims and to the future, which must not be built on the frail foundations of denial, neglect and repression, not because of European integration.

Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center, announced that the civil sector should adopt, by 2009, recommendations which would enable the founding of a regional body for establishing the facts and making them public on the national and regional level.

The third regional forum on instruments for establishing the facts about war crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia was organized by the Humanitarian Law Center, the Research and Documentation Center Sarajevo and the Zagreb based Documenta center for facing the past.

BELGRADE, Feb. 11 (Beta) - Brussels wants Serbia to progress toward the European Union as quickly as possible, but this cannot be forced, it can only happen through a strategic and partnerlike relationship, Jelko Kacin, the European Parliament reporter for Serbia, said on Feb. 11, in Belgrade.

In a conversation with BETA, the Slovenian MP reminded that Brussels has offered Serbia the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, on condition that it fully cooperates with the Hague tribunal.

He stressed that European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn was authorized to sign the agreement once he received a positive report on cooperation with the international court. "Right now there is no such report. We will see what Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the Hague tribunal, will have to say after his visit to Belgrade, but if he assesses that there is full cooperation, the agreement may be signed, unless Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica changes his mind again," Kacin said.

According to him, the position of the Serbian government on European integration, some current reactions and the stances of the prime minister are not consistent, which results in complications and blockages in the government.

When asked about the EU's plans to send a mission to Kosovo, he replied that the EU was well aware that Kosovo was unable to solve its problems on its own and had long decided to assist Kosovo on its journey toward integration into the 27nation bloc, so that it can sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement and one day join the EU.

To the question of what steps the EU may be expected to take if Kosovo proclaims independence, he answered that the EU and its individual members, but Serbia too, would adequately respond to any political challenge.

ATHENS, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Couchner said in Athens on Monday he believed that a decision on Kosovo would be made soon, refusing to describe the Kosovo Albanians' intention on unilateral declaration as independence.

Asked by the Greek parliamentary TV channel when he expected Kosovo to declare independence, Couchner responded "I did not say that we are expecting independence, but a decision very soon." "In any case, we have been waiting enough ... We will soon take a decision on Kosovo, since, as you know, everything had been blocked," he said.

Couchner said that parliamentary elections in Kosovo had been useful and that they had showcased Premier Hashim Thaci, which he described as "good." "Serbia has not yet come out of the election process ... the situation is being shaped at present," Couchner added.

LJUBLJANA, Feb 12 (Tanjug) - Slovenia's President Danilo Tirk has said in talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New York that the recognition of Kosovo is not a matter of the United Nations, but rather of sovereign states, which, in acknowledging the province, would have to observe the international practice and international law, the Slovenian Press Agency STA has reported.

During his late-Monday meeting with Ban, Tirk underlined that the issue of Kosovo had been on the UN agenda for some time now and that a new stage had presented itself, in which sovereign countries should decide on the province's recognition, adding that the world organization would also have to engage itself in the Kosovo issue. Once sovereign countries have defined their stand on the issue, the UN will come into play once again, the Slovenian president underlined.

He specified that the world organization would be involved in issues such as the presence of an international mission and realization of envisaged changes in that region.

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Tanjug) - Finnish Foreign Minister Ilka Kanerva has expressed belief in Washington that the mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Euorope (OSCE) will be able to stay in Kosovo, perhaps with a narrower mandate, if the region declares independence.

Minister Kanerva, whose country is chairing the OSCE this year, told Reuters on Monday evening that Russia and Serbia were inclined to use a veto in the 56-nation OSCE, which operates by consensus, to end the mission in Kosovo should Pristina declare independence as expected.

The Finnish minister suggested the mission's new mandate would be "a little bit more narrow than today, concentrating (on) monitoring and human rights affairs, but also trying to support civil society activities."

PRISTINA, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - The decision on the sending of a European Union (EU) mission to Kosovo province has already been made and it will very soon be published in the official gazette, Official Journal of the European Union, EU Pristina Office Chief, Swedish diplomat Jonas Jonsson said on Monday.

Jonsson said, after talks with Kosovo Parliament President Jakup Krasnici, that he is very pleased with the cooperation with the Kosovo institutions, and announced that the EU Office will have between 200 and 300 employees, and that they will do their utmost successfully to realize their tasks.

Countries of the EU, with the exception of Cyprus, on Friday adopted the decision on the sending of the EU mission to Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, Jonsson said, specifying that it will include 1,800 experts in the areas of the judiciary and the police. Also speaking after the talks, the Kosovo speaker said parliament is ready to fulfill all its obligations so that the procedure of the adopting of a declaration on the independence of Kosovo could be completed successfully and the legal and other solutions envisaged within the package drawn up by former international envoy Martti Ahtisaari could be adopted.

PRISTINA, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - EU preparatory mission in Kosovo and Metohija spokesperson Karen Limdal said on Monday that the EU had not yet started deploying members of its future mission in the province, but has confirmed that in the past days in Kosovo had arrived members of the team for preparing the mission.

Limdal specified to Tanjug that in Kosovo had only arrived personnel that make up the preparatory mission. Limdal said that at the moment there are some people in Pristina who are part of the team, like her, who will prepare the future mission. Only these people have arrived. So that, when someone says that parts of the mission have arrived, I think that has to do with these people, she said.

BELGRADE, Feb 12 (Tanjug) - A lawsuit which Serbia might file with the International Court of Justice against the countries that recognize a unilaterally proclaimed Kosovo independence would be the first of its kind, because it will be for the first time now that a country becomes independent in spite of a UN Security Council resolution which forbids something like that, Swiss Professor Thomas Fleiner has said.

In an interview for the Tuesday issue of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, Professor Fleiner, advisor in the Serbian state team in the negotiations on Kosmet, favorably assessed, from the legal point of view, the chances that Serbia will win in the proceedings before the permanent UN Court in The Hague. In case of Kosovo, therefore, there is no such thing as precedent by which an independence of part of the sovereign state is recognized, although the UN Security Council resolution forbids something like that, Fleiner underlined.

Asked what would happen with Kosovo once it unilaterally declared independence, since it would not be able to become a member of the United Nations or many other international organizations, Fleiner answered that from his point of view, in all such cases, including Kosovo, an enormous burden fell upon the shoulders of the people that lived in those territories.

They will be split between their loyalty to Serbia and to Kosovo, because of which they will have great problems in a number of situations in their everyday life, he added. This is why I think all this is very irresponsible and completely unacceptable, Fleiner said, pointing out that for him, all that was a question of the respect of human rights.

BANJA LUKA, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Republika Srpska (RS) Premier Milorad Dodik reiterated Monday that RS representatives in joint Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) institutions would not give their consent to the possible decision on the recognition of the independence of Kosovo.

"We will see how we will react. What is known is that RS will not recognize the possible independence of Kosovo, and RS representatives will not agree that the BiH organs recognize this," Dodik stated. He said that those who back the unilateral act on the self-declaration of the independence of Kosovo, should count on the creation of a new situation in political relations both in the region and worldwide.

"We will view the possible declaration of the independence of Kosovo as the violation of international law," Dodik stated.

BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Cyprus is not alone and there are also other countries that will not recognize a unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo, Cypriot Foriegn Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said on Monday.

Cyprus has repeatedly stated that it will never recognize a unilateral proclamation of the independence of Serbia's southern Kosovo and Metohija province that is secured outside the frameworks of the United Nations (UN), primarily if this is done bypassing the UN Security Council, the Cypriot foreign minister said. This stand has been accepted by the partners of Cyprus and the European Union (EU).

Cyprus is not alone and there are other countries as well that will not recognize a unilaterally proclaimed independence, Kozakou-Marcoullis said. Diplomatic circles have estimated that between 20 and 22 EU member-states will very quickly recognize a self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo province, while it is uncertain for at least five states - Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain - whether they will follow suit.

BELGRADE, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - The president of the Kosovo-Metohija branch of the Social Democratic Party, Oliver Ivanovic, said Monday that if the Kosovo parliament adopts a declaration on independence, that document would not "represent anything special per se," unless it is accepted and recognized by all countries of the EU and the UN.

"As matters currently stand, many countries will be very reserved towards that document, and Serbia will not accept it, so that without Serbia, it will lack full legal legitimacy," Ivanovic told the Free Europe Radio. Ivanovic stated that it is easy to declare independence and that everyone can do that, but that its recognition is a lengthy process and, most important, it is not easy to take away a part of the territory of an internationally recognized state that is a member of the United Nations, and to form a new state there.

Ivanovic set out that, just like all the other Serbs in Kosovo, he is opposed to the independence of the province, adding that the Kosovo Serbs could decide not to recognize the independence and remain consistent to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, according to which Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Speaking about announcements of the Community of Serb Municipalities and Settlements in Kosovo that they will form a Serb assembly in the province late this week, Ivanovic said that in question are normal reactions by the Serbs who are dissatisfied with how the international community has placed restrictions on Serbia.

Ivanovic, who headed the Serb list of MPs in the Kosovo parliament until last week, said that northern Kosovo would not break away. "I believe that this will not happen, this would be a wrong step, because it would mean the recognition of the independence of Kosovo. On the other hand, this would place the other Serbs in an very bad situation and would not resolve the problem, rather it would worsen the conflict between the two ethnic communities," Ivanovic pointed out.

PODGORICA, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Montenegro does not expect a major influx of refugees from Kosovo and Metohija after a declaration of independence, which the Kosovo provisional government had announced fro February 17, and will not allow transit residence of refugees, Montenegrin Commissioner for Refugees Zeljko Sofranac has stated.

He said that, however, the Montenegrin Commissioner will be ready to receive a possible arrival of refugees from Kosovo and Metohija. "Montenegro will address the problem just like any other sovereignty state, respecting its legislation and resolutions, protocols and declarations of the United Nations," said Sofranac.

Sofranac said that he will not allow a transit residence of a large number of refugees who might head for some neighboring countries. He ruled out a possibility of a massive influx of refugees in Montenegro, like the one during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.

ZAGREB, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - Leading confectionary company in Croatia Kras will by the end of June open a distribution center in the vicinity of Belgrade, giving the firm a foothold in the market of the region, board of managers director Nadan Vidosevic said.

Vidosevic told Jutarnji List newspaper that, besides the Serbian market, the markets of Romania and Bulgaria would also be supplied through the new distribution centre. Moreover, Kras plans to open "chocolate bars," like the ones already in existence in Croatia in Serbian cities - Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis, Vidosevic said.

Kras had sold on the Serbian market last year 1.300 tonnes of sweets, worth six million euros, and sale in the coming years is expected to be raised to 4,000 tonnes, or around 25 million euros.

MOSCOW, Feb 11 (Tanjug) - The 15th International Exhibition of Foodstuffs and Food Raw Materials PRODEXPO - 2008 opened in Moscow on Monday, where 15 companies from Serbia are exhibiting their products under the organization of the Chamber of Commerce.

Assistant Minister of Trade and Services Mihajlo Vesovic, who is, together with Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) President Milos Bugarin, heading a delegation of Serbia's businessmen, evaluated that Serbia is presented in a very good way, considering the condition in which the country's industry operates and that Moscow is one of the most demanding markets.

The PKS and Trade Ministry delegation is scheduled to visit Russia's Chamber of Commerce and meet with its President Yevgeny Primakov. The delegation is then planned to visit the province of Krasnodar to discuss cooperation prospects with representatives of the local industry and administration. A Serbian national exhibition will be organized in Krasnodar in June.