Belgrade, 23. 05. 2008.

SERBIA - SETTING UP NEW GOVT - REACTIONS

• TADIC: NO PARTY HAS NECESSARY MAJORITY
• DULIC: SERBIA WILL GET PRO-EUROPEAN GOVERNMENT VERY SOON
• DINKIC: NEW GOVERNMENT WILL BE SET UP BY JUNE 5
• SPANISH GOVT HOPES SERBIA WILL HAVE PRO-EUROPEAN GOVT

• SERBIAN FM LODGES PROTEST OVER KOSOVO RECOGNITION
• JEREMIC: KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE BROUGHT INTO QUESTION UN LEGITIMACY
• SERBIAN GOVT CONDEMNS GLORIFICATION OF DJINDJIC'S ASSASSINS
• DJELIC: GOVT APPROVES EXPORT STRATEGY
• BRAMMERTZ: THERE IS PROGRESS, BUT STILL UNSATISFACTORY
• DIALOGUE & INFORMED PUBLIC KEY FOR EU ENLARGEMENT PROCESS
• SUSANNE KASTNER TO VISIT DONJI MILANOVAC

• ISG SUPPORTS PROGRESS
• DI CARLO: UN REMAINS IN KOSOVO, US TAKES PART IN EULEX
• GENERAL DAVOREN DOES NOT EXPECT REDUCTION OF KFOR

BELGRADE, May 22 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic said Thursday after his consultations with representatives of election lists that had secured seats at parliament that none of the parties or lists has the necessary majority for forming a new government and that he will announce further steps in good time, a release issued by his office says. Tadic has conferred with representatives of the For European Serbia list - Boris Tadic, Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Democratic Party of Serbia - New Serbia (DSS-NS), Socialist Party of Serbia - United Pensioners' Party - United Serbia (SPS-PUPS-JS), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Hungarian Coalition, Bosniak List for European Sandzak and Presevo Valley Albanians Coalition. For European Serbia list told Tadic it would shortly nominate its candidate for the future prime minister. SRS informed Tadic that DSS leader Vojislav Kostunica would be their candidate, while DSS-NS did not disclose the name of their candidate. SPS-PUPS-JS said their candidate was named during the pre-election campaign and that he is Milutin Mrkonjic. The consultations focused on the need for constituting as soon as possible a government which will work for the welfare of all citizens, the release says.

STRASBOURG/BELGRADE, May 22 (Tanjug) - Serbian parliament Speaker Oliver Dulic has said that he has shared his belief with his collegues from countries that are members of the Council of Europe (CE) "that a stable pro-european government will be formed in Serbia very soon." Speaking to Tanjug on the phone from Strasbourg, where a summit of parliament speakers of CE member countries opens on Thursday, Dulic said that the new pro-european government should continue the struggle for a better economic situation in Serbia, its european integrations and for preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country. Dulic said that the summit of the CE parliament speakers "is one of the major gatherings to be held this year as it will rally 40 speakers." "These gatherings always present an opportunity for my collegues, the parliament speakers, to learn about the situation in Serbia and for me to inform them about the official stands, especially the open issue with regards the situation in Kosovo and Metohija," Dulic set out.

BELGRADE, May 23 (Tanju) - The coalition gathered around the For European Serbia list will make an agreement by June 5 with the minority parties and the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition, claims Minister Mladjan Dinkic. "The Socialists whom we have had talks with are still in two minds of whether to say that in public, but 90 percent of them have already decided to cooperate with us, and I expect that both the Presidency and the Main Committee of their (coalition) parties will soon confirm this," Dinkic said, adding that Serbia was 99 percent a step away from a pro-European and nationally responsible government. "During our consultations with President Boris Tadic, we demanded a mandate for the setting up of the government, because we are convinced that we have already ensured a parliamentary majority," Dinkic said in an interview for the Belgrade daily Blic. "Bearing in mind the fact that the parliament will be able to hold its first session on June 5, at the soonest, we expect that the convocation of the new pro-European government will be known before that date,".

BELGRADE, May 22 (Tanjug) - The Spanish government is closely following the process of forming the new government in Serbia and hopes that it will be a progressive and pro-European one. The Spanish government said on its website that it would be very positive if the Serbian government were to be formed by the coalition headed by the Democratic Party, which won the majority of votes in elections. Spanish Socialist Workers' Party would welcome the entry of the Socialist Party in government and support its entry into the Soc. Int.

BELGRADE, May 22 (Tanjug) - The Serbian Foreign Ministry on Thursday sent a protest note to the government of the Czech Republic over its recognition of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija. In keeping with the Foreign Ministry's Action Plan, adopted at a government session, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Thursday instructed the withdrawal of Serbia's ambassador to the Czech Republic, Vladimir Veres, the Foreign Ministry annonced. Veres should leave the Czech Republic within 48 hours from the lodging of the protest note and to return to Serbia for consultations until further notice.

NOVI SAD, May 23 (Tanjug) - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in Novi Sad on Thursday that the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo-Metohija independence had brought into question the legitimacy of the United Nations, because the basic principle of the UN, the obligation of every member state to respect the territorial integrity of all sovereign countries had been violated. When something happens for the first time, it is called a precedent, Minister Jeremic noted while addressing the participants of the annual conference of ISO/TC 176 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the ISO 9001 Standard. Jeremic underlined that the nature of the precedent that was being established was such that it could trigger a general crisis of confidence in the United Nations, when there would be no more standards, no universal rules, no code of conduct, no constraints whatsoever. The only thing that would remain in force would be - "might makes right," Jeremic warned. According to Jeremic, in the era of globalisation, the Kosovo precedent makes the international system more unstable, insecure and unpredictable. "It legitimises imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts; the act of unilateral secession by a sub-state actor; and the forced partition of internationally recogised, sovereign states," the Serbian foreign minister added. The Kosovo precedent, according to Jeremic, also violates the commitment to peaceful and consensual resolution of disputes in Europe, and supplies any ethnic or religious group that has a grievance against its capital with a "tool kit" on how to achieve its ends. In order to repair the damage that has been done by the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo's independence, Serbia plans to act in accordance with the standards of international conduct, the Serbian foreign minister pointed out. First of all, Belgrade intends to put a resolution before the UN General Assembly in September that would ask the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija. Pointing to the fact that, of course, one could not know the contents of the ruling in advance, Jeremic assessed that it seemed inconceivable that the Court could ignore the unambiguous legal parametres, i.e. the universal standards, which were the foundations of the of the international system. Once the Court rules on the proclamation of Kosovo independence, Kosovo will not join the world community of sovereign states because it will not acquire the ultimate status of international legitimacy and will therefore remain unattractive to foreign investment and incapable of its freefall to failure without the engagement of Belgrade, Jeremic noted. At that moment, a new window of opportunity will open up in which true negotiations on the status of the southern Serbian province can take place and continue until a compromise is reached, Foreign Minister Jeremic said. He said that in the meantime, Serbia was not to isolate itself, but rather had to seize the initiative, embrace the perspectives on offer and concentrate on formulating a strategic approach to national development. In that context, according to Jeremic, the victory of pro-democratic forces at the May 11 early parliamentary elections is very important as an unambiguous confirmation of Serbia's European choice. Jeremic, however, warned that that victory was not yet secure, because a pro-European government was yet to be formed, which would complete the "bridge to Europe" constructed on the foundation of our national pride and our national integrity. Serbia's admission into the EU, according to Jeremic, is of huge importance, since, among other things, it contributes in a peaceful way to the consolidation and enlargement of national identity through exposure to the values of Europe. Europe is the embodiment of a commitment to national transformation and an antidote to self-isolation, and this is why this is not the moment for hesitation, but for boldness and courage to harness the splendid opportunities before us, to mold them to suit our strategic goals, he concluded.

BELGRADE, May 22 (Tanjug) - The Serbian government on Thursday unanimously condemned the scandalous statement of Vojislav Seselj on the glorification of the assassins of the late Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic, Tanjug was told at the Serbian government. Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj said at the ICTY that Zvezdan Jovanovic, who had been sentenced for the assassination of Djindjic, deserved the "glory of Gavrilo Princip in the Serbian history." "I believe that Jovanovic was falsely accused and if he had not been - he would have enjoyed Princip's glory in the Serbian history," Seselj said during the cross-examination of witness for the prosecution Asim Alic.

BELGRADE, May 22 (Beta) - The government endorsed a strategy for boosting Serbian exports by 25 % per year up till 2011. "The aim is to alter the structure of our exports in order to expand the role of goods in the later stages of processing and to raise the percentage of capital consumer goods in our country's exports from 43 to 65 %," Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said. The strategy also calls for exports to new markets and expanding from 66 to 120 the number of companies with annual foreign sales of over EUR10 million. In addition to the EU, the document urges increasing exports to the CEFTA countries, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Khazakhstan, and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Djelic added that the Export Financing Agency will get another USD50 million in state funding, stressing that it will not be required to maintain reserves for loans issued. Other measures include expanding economic diplomacy, improving tariff and taxation policies, eliminating red tape, and boosting manufacturing standards. In 2007, Serbia registered per capita exports of EUR896, less than 10 % of Slovenia's level and just 43 % of what Croatia.

NOVI SAD, May 23 (Tanjug) - Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz has assessed that "limited progress" has been made in Serbia's cooperation with the Tribunal, but that the cooperation in terms of investigating and finding the four remaining Hague fugitives is still unsatisfactory, the Novi Sad daily Dnevnik reported on Friday. In his first regular report on cooperation to the UN Security Council as chief prosecutor, Brammertz states that the four remaining fugitives-Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Stojan Zupljanin and Goran Hadzic-are "within reach" of the Serbian government and that Serbia is able to find and arrest them. Brammertz's main criticism of Belgrade's cooperation is the fact that not only have there been no positive developments in locating the fugitives, but that access to BIA and military archives has been denied to the Tribunal, documents have not been transferred, while witness protection is insufficient in ongoing cases, especially that of Vojislav Seselj On a more positive note, the prosecutor cited the efforts to arrest Zupljanin in Nis, and the work of the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution, as well as the readiness of Belgrade officials to work on locating and arresting the Hague fugitives. Brammertz will officially submit the report to the UN Security Council in early June.

Ljubljana, May 22 (Beta) - The enlargement of the European Union is equally important for both the EU and each individual country, the head of the EU Mission in Ljubljana, Mihaela Zupancic, said on May 22. At the opening of a twoday conference on enlargement policy with candidate and potential candidate countries for EU membership, Zupancic stressed that governments have the key responsibility to make information accessible to their citizens. At the conference, representatives from Slovenia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and Finland will present their experiences in the process of coming closer to the EU to delegations from Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, BosniaHerzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

In the next two days, they will also discuss the strengthening of the communications aspect of the process of approaching the EU by the candidate countries, that is, by the potential candidates for EU membership. Zupancic thinks that the process is very demanding, with no unique solution, and that it needs to be harmonized with processes on the local level. She underlined that it is necessary to convince the public about the benefits of enlargement and about the necessity of reforms, which cannot be successful without public support.

DONJI MILANOVAC, May 22 (Tanjug) - Deputy speaker of the German parliament Susanne Kastner on Thursday started a visit to Donji Milanovac on the Danube within activities aimed at developing the tourist industry in the Danube basin. The high-ranking German delegation, headed by Kastner, is hosted by Zoran Djindjic Fund President Ruzica Djindjic and Director of the Tourist Organisation of Serbia Gordana Plamenac. Kastner is a member of the German parliament's working group for the development of tourism, president of the German-Romanian parliamentary group and one of the important promoters of South-Eastern European development. The visit of the German delegation, which first visited the Romanian city of Orsava, represents an announcement of intensification of activities and cooperation after the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union. The organiser of the visit is the office for the programme of support to the economic development and employment in Serbia and German Consulate in Romania.

PRISTINA, May 23 (Tanjug) - The International Steering Group (ISG) for Kosovo, at a meeting held in Pristina late on Thursday, reiterated its support for the progress made by Kosovo in the first three months since its unilateral declaration of independence. A joint statement from the meeting, chaired by International Civilian Representative (ICR) Pieter Feith, said that the ISG notes the continued efforts by Kosovo authorities to ensure the full implementation of the Comprehensive Status Proposal in line with Kosovo's full acceptance of the obligations contained in it. The statement said that the Kosovo authorities, with ICR's advice and support, are working to ensure a democratic and multiethnic society where all communities and their members, primarily all minorities enjoy all rights and protection. Feith informed all present about the latest developments relevant to Kosovo since the last ISG meeting, also held in Pristina on May 7.

PRISTINA, May 23 (Tanjug) - Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Rosemary DiCarlo has said in Pristina that the UN will remain in Kosovo after June 15, when the Kosovo Constitution is due to come into force, and announced the possibility of US participation in EULEX. The UN will continue its presence in Kosovo, and their future role will be decided upon after the talks that are under way," said DiCarlo, who took part in a meeting of representatives of the member countries of the International Steering Group for Kosovo. She did not say what the role of UNMIK would be.

VITINA, May 22 (Tanjug) - Kosovo Multinational Task Force (East) Commander Brigadier General John E. Davoren said Thursday that any kind of down-sizing of the Kfor troops is not expected in the next two mandates, recalling that UN Security Council Resolution 1244 remains the main mission of Kfor. Brig. Gen. Davoren told reporters in Vitina that Kfor has not started training the security forces of the Republic of Kosovo, which has unilaterally declared independence, saying that the NATO leadership has yet to adopt a decision. Last Tuesday, Kfor Commander Lieutenant General Xavier Bout de Marnhac said in Strpce that the international forces would remain in Kosovo as long as UN SC Resolution 1244 is in force, confirming that there is no decision for training these Kosovo forces.