Belgrade, 16. 04. 2008.

SERBIA

• JEREMIC: MEXICO STRONGLY AGAINST UNILATERAL INDEPENDENCE
• KOSTUNICA SAYS PROVISION ON KOSOVO SHOULD BE ADDED TO SAA
• BUSEK: EU CANDIDATE-STATUS FOR ALL BALKAN COUNTRIES
• DJELIC FAVOURS NEGOTIATED COMPROMISE ON KOSOVO-METOHIJA
• BRAJOVIC: EUROPE UNJUSTLY REJECTED SERBIA
• KUBIS: UPCOMING ELECTIONS IMPORTANT MOMENT FOR SERBIA

• RUPEL, RICE WANT TO SEE PROGRESS IN KOSOVO
• MONTENEGRO AGAINST RASH DECLARATION ON KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE
• UNMIK REVIEWS REQUEST FOR HOLDING OF LOCAL SERBIAN ELECTIONS
• VOTE AGAINST UNMIK'S WILL WOULD VIOLATE RESOLUTION 1244
• CURKIN: UNMIK SHOULD BE NEUTRAL TOWARD SERBIAN ELECTIONS
• RUSSIA WARNS EU NOT TO DEPLOY EULEX BY FORCE
• KRAMARENKO: KOSOVO NOT TREATED SAME AS EAST TIMOR OR ERITREA

• GAS STORAGE FACILITY TO START OPERATING BY WINTER
• RUSIANS INSIST ON RATIFICATION OF ENERGY AGREEMENT

MEXICO CITY, April 16 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said on Tuesday evening, after a meeting with Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa Cantellano that Mexico is strongly against the recognition of the unilateral independence of Kosovo and Metohija.

"I can state with pleasure that I have been given guarantees that Mexico will remain firmly on the positions of the protection of international law and insistence on the finding of a compromise and mutually acceptable solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija that would be reached through negotiations," Jeremic said in a statement for the Tanjug news agency. Mexico will support Serbia in its initiative for seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in The Hague in connection with the legality of the recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of the southern Serbian province, the Serbian minister said.

"Mexico has successfully presented initiatives for seeking opinions from the International Court of Justice in The Hague on several occasions so far, and we agreed to continue the extremely close cooperation at the level of our ambassadors at the United Nations so that Mexico could help us with its experience," Jeremic said.

BELGRADE, April 15 (Beta) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on April 15 that he would back the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU if "a sentence affirming that Kosovo is an integral and inalienable part of Serbia" was added to the document.

"If the EU responds affirmatively, I am ready to immediately and strongly support the signing of the agreement, and I am convinced that the entire Serbian people will stand behind such an agreement, because it is in the interest of Serbia," Kostunica says in a statement given to BETA.

If the EU, under pressure from the U.S. and NATO, turns down that proposal, it will be clear that NATO wants a signature on the agreement so that it can claim that Serbia has accepted the false state of Kosovo, Kostunica says.

"After the unilateral declaration of independence and the illegal deployment of the EU mission to Kosovo, we must get an answer from Brussels as to what exactly Serbia is signing with the EU. I am publicly calling on EU officials to tell the Serbian citizens whether they accept to have the sentence 'Kosovo is Serbia' in the SAA agreement," he said.

Kostunica added that no one had the right to "sign any kind of agreement, on behalf of Serbia and for the NATO pact, which would tomorrow be interpreted as recognition of Kosovo's independence."

VIENNA, April 16 (Tanjug) - Stability Pact for South East Europe Special coordinator Erhard Busek believes that all Balkan countries should be given the status of candidate-countries for admission to membership in the European Union (EU). "All Balkan countries should be given candidate status. Some will need three years, others 20 years, but that would put pressure on the politics to work, and not to come up with some stupid ideas," Busek said in an interview to the Vienna daily Der Standard.

The former Austrian vice chancellor said that visas are a big problem. "Foreign ministers are constantly declaring that the issue of visas is functioning, but interior ministers know nothing about this. I am in favor of the full liberalization of the visa regime, because a good criminal always gets a visa anyway. This would resolve many problems, for example, the temptations of corruption," Busek said. "Serbia's problem is the problem with visas. The young generation never had the opportunity to get to know Europe, while their parents and grandfathers and grandmothers had been able to travel. It is impossible to explain that to anyone," Busek said.

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Tanjug) - Serbia believes that it is not too late to find a compromise solution for Kosovo-Metohija and that it could be reached through multilateral negotiations led by the United States, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic has said in Washington.

He said that Washington's unilateral and imbalanced policy had caused the independence of Kosovo which Belgrade would never accept and that its pressure had made numerous European states to recognize, though unwillingly, Pristina's unilateral declaration.

At a lecture at the international studies of the Johns Hopkins University, Djelic said late on Monday that the May 11 elections represented the greatest challenge for Serbia since the collapse of the Slobodan Milosevic regime and that it had wider regional implications, the Voice of America reported. As for Kosovo, Djelic believes that equal pressure on Belgrade and Pristina would result in a solution which, unlike the offered which Belgrade opposes, will not isolate the people of Kosovo economically and socially.

VIENNA, April 16 (Tanjug) - Serbian Culture Minister Vojislav Brajovic said in Vienna on Tuesday evening, in talks with representatives of the Serb Diaspora, that Serbia has been unjustly rejected by Europe "of which it is a part." Serbia has been "rejected because something that is the essence of identity and spirituality has been unjustly taken away from it.

We all originate from Kosovo. The punishment which is constantly being meted out to Serbia is a kind of global disciplining and it will get back to Europe and the world civilization like a boomerang," the minister said. "Losing such fans as Serbia was of the United States of America and Europe is definitely their loss as well," Brajovic said.

STRASBOURG, April 16 (Tanjug) - Chairman of the Council of Europe (CoE) Ministerial Committee, Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis, has expressed hope in Strasbourg that Belgrade's orientation toward European integrations will be confirmed at the upcoming parliamentary elections.

These elections will be an important moment in the political life of Serbia, said Kubis, whose country chairs the CoE Committee of Ministers. The development of Serbia and the region will be a topic at the talks during his visits to Belgrade and Pristina planned for the end of April, Kubis announced, as carried by Radio Free Europe. Presenting a report on the work of the CoE Ministerial Committee, Kubis said that progress has been achieved in Serbia, among other things, in the ratification and the taking effect of the European Charter on Local Self-Government, and the recognized readiness of the Serbian authorities to fulfill their remaining obligations.

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Tanjug) - Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said after a meeting with US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice that they shared concern over the situation in the West Balkans and wanted to see progress as soon as possible.

We want reliable and operational Kosovo institutions, successful EU mission in Kosovo and we want things to move urgently, Rupel, who ends his several-day visit to Washington, said on Monday. Rice and Rupel urged decisive and swift operations to avoid the deterioration of the situation in Kosovo or creation of problems on the border between Kosovo and Serbia.

BELGRADE, April 16 (Tanjug) - Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic has said that Montenergo believes it should not make any rash statements concerning the independence of Kosovo and that the relations between Podgorica and Belgrade are at present much better than they were at the time when they shared a common state.

"We believed the best solution is an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. When such a solution was not forthcoming, we were confident that the best thing would be that a solution is found within the United Nations. Since that failed to happen as well, we consider it most appropriate that we should not make any rash declarations on the occasion of the Kosovo decision to proclaim its independence," Vujanovic said in an interview to the Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti.

"A rash declaration on this issue would be contrary to our interest to preserve the harmony in the ethnic relations that are the foundation of the internal stability of Montenegro," Vujanovic said.

PRISTINA, April 15 (Tanjug) - The UN civilian mission in Kosovo-Metohija is reviewing Serbian Minister Slobodan Samardzic's request to hold local elections in the province on May 11, UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko said on Tuesday.

Ivanko told Tanjug that UNMIK had recieved Samardzic's letter and now had to review it, but that presently they did not have the response. Asked how UNMIK would react in view of Belgrade's determination to implement local elections in Kosovo-Metohija, Ivanko said that their position on that issue was very clear and that only UNMIK could organize local elections in the province.

LONDON, April 15 (Tanjug) - UN secretary-general's spokesman Brendan Varma has said that local elections among Kosovo Serbs without UNMIK's approval would be in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244. This is UNMIK's task, he said and added that he could only reiterate what UNMIK said and this was that elections in Kosovo were an executive function of UNMIK and that if anybody tried this without UNMIK's approval this would violate UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Asked how the UN secretary-general saw the future of UNMIK, which should be replaced by an European mission under the Martti Ahtisaari plan, he said that UNMIK had received the mandate from the Security Council under Resolution 1244 and that it would remain in Kosovo until the Security Council changed its decision.

MOSCOW, April 15 (Beta) - Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Curkin, has stated that Moscow expects the U.N. Mision in Kosovo to be neutral toward the holding of the May elections in Serbia.

Since the U.N. decided from the onset to take a neutral position and not to take sides regarding Kosovo's proclamation of independence, then it should be consistent and not interfere with issues that can reflect on the status, Curkin told journalists at the U.N.

Russian wire services reported that Curkin rejected claims that Russia was threatening to block the reelection of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon because of his stance on the independence of Kosovo.

According to him, during contacts with Ban, Moscow clearly explained that it was not fully satisfied with his stance on the Kosovo issue.

Curkin said Ban's position was that Resolution 1244 of the U.N. Security Council remained in force until another decision is made, while UNMIK will act in Kosovo in accordance with that resolution.

BRUSSELS, Apr 15 (Tanjug) - Russia publicly warns the European Union not to deploy its EULEX mission by force in Kosovo-Metohija, Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said Tuesday. He emphasized that Russia would agree to a UN Security Council resolution that would legalize EULEX if Serbia accepts such a document and if it clearly defines Kosovo as part of Serbia.

The EU High Representative for foreign policy and security Javier Solana is well aware of Russia's stand, he said. The only way to move forward is through dialogue with the Kosovo Serb community and through a resumption of the negotiating process between Belgrade and Pristina, which will be difficult but would constitute the only possible way, Chizhov said. If the EU tries to neglect Russia's warning, Moscow will use all available means within the UN to draw the attention of the international community to the violation of the UN SC Resolution 1244, he said.

The EU decision to send a mission to Kosovo was a great mistake, he noted. Russia warns the EU as a friend and partner not to pursue this wrong policy, he said, adding that the UN and its Secretary General Ban Ki Moon have rejected the transfer of powers from UNMIK to EULEX. Moscow conveyed to Ban a clear advise on this issue during his visit to Russia, he added.

MOSCOW, April 16 (Tanjug) - The unilateral proclamation of Kosovo's independence and the act of bypassing the UN Security Council prove the double standards the US and several European countries are applying in their activities, representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Kramarenko said on Wednesday.

Kramarenko, director of the Foreign Affairs Planning Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reminded that Eritrea and East Timor had gained independence in full accord with international law, with the consent of the countries they had been in scope of, after negotiations with their authorities and with the approval of the UN SC.

It is these basic principles that have been violated in the case of Kosovo, for which the UN SC reached a decision demanding a political resolution of the conflict, with the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the all the countries in the region, he said in an interview for the Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

BELGRADE, April 15 (Tanjug) - Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Popovic said on Tuesday that the Banatski Dvor gas storage facility would soon be filled with gas and that the facility would start to operate partly by this winter.

Addressing the annual energy conference in Belgrade, Popovic said that between 150 and 200 million cubic meters of gas should be placed in the Banatski Dvor facility, which should satisfy Serbia's needs for gas next winter. He voiced his expectation that the facility would reach its full capacity of 800 million cubic meters of gas by 2010.

BELGRADE, April 15 (Beta) - The head of Russian Gazpromneft for Serbia, Dmitry Malyshev, on April 15 voiced concern over the delay in ratifying the energy agreement between Russia and Serbia, as the stalling is causing a loss for both countries.

Speaking at a news conference dubbed The Future of the Energy Sector in the Balkans, Malyshev said that Gazprom understood the democratic processes and elections in Serbia, and stressed that delaying ratification also postponed the construction of the gas pipeline, the Banatski Dvor underground gas storage and the modernization of the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS).

After the ratification, the sale deal for NIS is to be harmonized, Malyshev said, adding that he hoped this would happen soon.

According to him, Gazprom has the money ready for the purchase of a 51 percent stake in NIS for the planned price of EUR400 million, and investments due to be much higher than the foreseen EUR500 million.

The Rusian-Serbian agreement on cooperation in the field of oil and gas was signed on Jan. 25 but has not been ratified yet due to the calling of a snap general election, and hence it is waiting for the new parliamentary convocation.