Belgrade, 15. 05. 2008.

SERBIA - AFTER PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

• TADIC: POLITICAL BARGAINING DISRESPET OF PEOPLE'S WILL
• JEREMIC: POLICY TOWARDS KOSOVO WILL NOT CHANGE

• EU TO ASSESS SERBIA'S EFFORTS FOR VISA LIBERALIZATION IN OCT
• EU FINANCE MINISTERS CONFIRM W. BALKANS FINANCING FRAMEWORK
• BAKOYANNIS: SERBIA DESERVES TO BE PART OF EU

• RECOGNITION TO SERBIAN GOVT FOR DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
• SERBIA HAS GOOD ECONOMIC PROSPECTS

• PONOS CALLS ON U.S. & NATO FOR KFOR NOT TO EXCEED MANDATE
• ROGOZIN: EVERYONE KNEW ABOUT ABDUCTIONS IN KOSOVO
• IVANKO: UNMIK HAS NO ORDERS TO ARREST FOR MAY 11 ELECTIONS
• IVANKO: UNMIK EXPECTS NORMAL RELATIONS WITH NEW SEBRIAN GOV
• INDIA, CHINA & RUSSIA CALL FOR RENEWAL OF TALKS ON KOSOVO

BELGRADE, May 15 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Tadic has said that the possible "political bargaining" between Seselj and Kostunica, "could hardly be qualified as a respect of the will the people expressed at the elections." In an interview for the Belgrade daily Novosti, he said that the people and the will they had expressed in the elections would be tricked in case of such "political bargaining," in which "someone who had only about ten percent of the vote would once again be in charge of the policy of the country, a policy which is harmful, radical." Tadic said that his duty was to "fight against the setting up of such a government by all democratic means, since it would stop Serbia in its development, and its populist policy of conflicts and divisions would be contrary to the interests of the people and the state."

BELGRADE, May 15 (Tanjug) - Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that the state policy towards Kosovo would not change regardless of who set up the government. "We will have a continuity of state policy towards Kosovo whoever sets up the government," Jeremic said in a TV Pink news broadcast, pointing out that all the parties that had up to now created a united policy on the province's defence were in the parliament once again. Jeremic expressed optimism in respect of the setting up of the new pro-European government, underlining that there was no reason for getting too excited over the negotiations between Radical Party, DSS-NS and the coalition gathered around Socialist Party.

NIS, May 14 (Tanjug) - Head of Office for Integration in Europe Tanja Miscevic said that the European Commission will assess Serbia's endeavors to meet the conditions for visa liberalization in Oct. Serbia has already completed two thirds of the job by adopting a safe passport and regulating the stay and movement of foreigners, and it has yet to regulate measures for fighting crime and corruption and cooperation in police and judiciary sectors.

BRUSSELS, May 14 (Tanjug) - EU finance ministers confirmed in Brussels the instrument for financing in the Western Balkans, which does not envisage additional funds but acceleration of investments and granting of loans for infrastructure projects. The goal is to improve efficiency, Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk said. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Issues Joaquin Almunia said European financial institutions agreed to link existing instruments for non-reimbursable aid. The comprehensive mechanism, to be set up by 2010, links the existing financial instruments of the European Commission, member states and international financial institutions - the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). The complicated procedure for getting loans from these institutions will be simplified to enable states and companies to use existing funds more efficiently. In the first stage the focus will be on infrastructure projects in Western Balkans and in the second on small and medium scale companies.

ATHENS, May 15 (Tanjug) - The elections in Serbia were free, peaceful and democratic, Greek Foreign Mminister Dora Bakoyannis has assessed, adding that Serbia's place is in the EU. We hope that the talks of the parties on the setting up of the new cabinet will give a positive result very soon, which will make it possible for the government to continue its work aimed at the fulfillment of Serbia's wish to be there where it belongs - among the members of the EU, the Athens News Agency reported.This (EU admission) is something what Serbia deserves, Bakoyannis underlined.

BELGRADE, May 15 (Tanjug) - The Serbian government received acknowledgment for drawing up a Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Serbia, which was presented today at the United Nations, it was announced by the cabinet of Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic. The presentation was carried out as part of the regular annual meeting of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development in New York. "The Serbian government received recognition and was commended by representatives of over 20 countries, who attended the presentation, for the efficient and transparent process of drafting the Strategy, and its recent adoption by the Serbian government on May 9," it was said.

BELGRADE, May 14 (Tanjug) - Investment climate in Serbia is favorable and the country's economic prospects are good, foreign investors and economic officials assessed in their first reactions to the outcome of the parliamentary elections held Sunday. Head of the Italian Foreign Trade Institute office in Belgrade Fabio Corsi expressed his conviction that the new Serbian government will pursue reforms and reconstruction initiated eight years ago. Great projects underway or planned for the near future, especially in the infrastructure and energy sectors, will certainly open fresh prospects for cooperation with Italian companies, he said. UN embassy Attache for Agriculture Hassan Ahmed expressed his conviction that Serbia is entering a a period of political calm and that the country will soon become a center of economic development in the Balkans. Vice-President of Erste Bank Board Slavko Caric told Tanjug that the bank is interested in Serbia's economic and political stability and its closest possible ties with the European Union.

BRUSSELS, May 14 (Tanjug) - Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Zdravko Ponos requested in Brussels from U.S. Army Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen and from NATO SecGen Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that Kfor does not overstep its mandate in Kosovo and not be drawn into the creation of any institution that would manifest the independent status of the Serbian province. "I emphasise the importance of Kfor to remain neutral in terms of status and not be drawn into any activity linked to the self proclaimed so called independence of Kosovo," Ponos told reporters. Gen. Ponos met will Mullen and Scheffer on the sidelines of a meeting of the Euro Atlantic Partnership military committee, made up of NATO and Partnership for Peace chiefs of staff. Responding to a question about NATO's decision to initiate preparations to supplement Kfor mandate, which would include also the training of future Kosovo security forces, Ponos said that he conveyed his view that "it is not a form of NATO involvement in the region that can have Serbia's support." Gen. Ponos conferred with Adm. Mullen on the bilateral cooperation of the Serbia and U.S. armies. "Several programmes have been ongoing all this time, under the shadow of the recognition of the independence of Kosovo by the US. We agreed there was a mutual interest to continue our cooperation wherever it is possible within the existing political limitations," Ponos said. He underscored that he asked from the U.S. chief of staff that the Serbian Army gets a place in the U.S. War College education programme, and that he was promised the request would be met. Ponos assessed it was a shame that no security accord had been signed up to now between Serbia and NATO, as it represents a codex on information exchange.

MOSCOW, May 14 (Tanjug) - The International community has always been aware of the abductions of people in Kosovo and removal of their organs, which former ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte described in her recently published book, but by confessing this it would mean for the West failure of their plan for partition Serbia, change the ratio of forces in the Balkans and diminution of Russia's influence, Russia's permanent envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin stated on Wednesday. "These are obvious things, well known to all those who dealt with the issue of Kosovo and regardless of it all, this is a very serious evidence that discredits (Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim) Taci," said Rogozin, adding that Taci was the commander of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army, but that, nevertheless, the West liked to communicate with him. "They were all aware of the fact that the KLA was a terrorist extremist organization financed by narco-mafia," the Russian diplomat said in a statement with Russia's daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, included in the last of a series of articles titled "Kosovo Rippers," dedicated to the allegations included in Del Ponte's book "Hunt: Me and War Criminals."

PRISTINA, May 14 (Tanjug) - UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko stated that the law and order forces in Kosovo had not received any request or authorization to arrest anyone in relation to the elections for the local Serb organs held in Kosovo. Ivanko commented on the statement issued by the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija in Kosovska Mitrovica saying that U.N. police members had tried in Gracanica to arrest municipal coordinator for Pristina Slavisa Nikolic, accusing him of organizing parliamentary and local elections in Kosovo. The statement read that U.N. police officer Robert Apel attempted to arrest Nikolic at the premises of the displaced Pristina municipality in Gracanica this morning at 9.30 a.m. by pulling a gun out. Apel said in a statement with the KIM radio that he arrived at the municipality premises in Gracanica following charges against Nikolic that he had tried, with the help of his personal security, to arrest two persons, accusing them of breaking several windows on his house. Head of the Vidovdan election list in the Sunday local elections in Gracanica Nebojsa Peric said in a statement with the KIM radio in Caglavica that he had reported Nikolic to the police for harassment on political basis.

PRISTINA, May 14 (Tanjug) - Alexander Ivanko said that UNMIK expected from the new Serbian government to have normal relations with the UN mission in Kosovo, so that solutions to some pending issues can be found. Ivanko said at a press conference in Pristina he expected UNMIK to have normal relations with new Serbian government represntatives, so that they can resolve through talks issues that were not resolved during the mandate of the former Serbian government. Referring to local elections In Kosovo last Sunday, the UNMIK spokesman said that Serbia had spent a large amount of money on something that is illegal and that is not in keeping with its intentional obligations. He recalled that a proposal was made to Slobodan Samardzic for the holding of additional elections in five municipalities in Kosovo where Serbs are in majority, which would be organised by UNMIK, but that the minister had not replied. Ivanko said that for UNMIK, in addition to five mayors whose mandate has been extended, also legal were Serb representatives elected in Kosovo elections on November 17, 2007. He underscored that official Belgrade should make sure that Kosovo Serbs respect UN Security Council Resolution 1,244.

MOSCOW, May 15 (Tanjug) - Russia, India, China call for a renewal of the talks on Kosovo between Belgrade and Pristina, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after today's meeting with his Indian and Chinese counterparts in Yekaterinburg. The three countries believe that the Kosovo issue has to be solved only on the basis of international law, said Lavrov. The three ministers underscored that unilateral declaration of independence by Serbia's southern province on Feb 17 was contrary to UN SC Res 1244. Russia, India and China call for a renewal of the talks between Belgrade and Pristina within the framework of international law and for reaching an agreement between them on all problems that the Serbian province has, it was underscored in a statement broadcast by Itar-Tass. This is the seventh tripartite ministerial meeting since 2003, when foreign ministers of the three countries met at the UN General Assembly in New York.