Draskovic Reassured of Slovenia's Support
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has reassured his Serbian counterpart Vuk Draskovic of Slovenia's support for democratic Serbia and its European future. "I cannot imagine an EU without Serbia. The EU needs Serbia too," Rupel said after meeting Draskovic in Ljubljana on Tuesday.
Rupel does not think the EU will be perfect as long as there is a missing link between Slovenia and Greece.
Draskovic got the same assurances from Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who promised specific forms of assistance in Serbia's reform process and adoption of EU standards.
"We are proud of our cooperation with democratic forces in Serbia typically represented by my colleague Draskovic," Rupel said. He praised the "unrelenting friendship" between the two nations, based on 70 years of their life together in the former Yugoslavia.
Serbia's foreign minister thanked Slovenia for its support. According to him, Slovenia will have the role of Serbia's advocate at the NATO summit in Riga later this month. He said Slovenia was the best example for Serbia to learn from.
Referring to the EU requirement for Serbia's full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, Draskovic said it was unwise to set new impediments on Serbia's progress towards the EU and NATO.
He said the requirements would be met more swiftly, had Serbia already been part of those structures, or had accession talks started. He nevertheless pointed out that Serbia would not go back to its past.
Kosovo was high on the agenda of Draskovic's talks here. He briefed PM Jansa on Serbia's positions regarding the future status of the province, expressing the confidence that the final solution would represent the best possible compromise.
Addressing a joint press conference with Rupel, Draskovic labelled Kosovo as the "only painful issue for the Serbian nation", which could, if the solution was to be imposed by the "powers", destabilise the entire region.
He said he had asked Slovenia for assistance in seeking a compromise that would not humiliate anybody or make any of the sides a winner or a loser.
Draskovic moreover believes it is time Kosovo Albanians showed readiness for compromise too, instead of insisting on their starting position, that is the independence of Kosovo.
"I hope there is still a window of opportunity for a compromise," something that Draskovic believes will eventually also depend on the political will within the contact group.
Quoting the territorial integrity guaranteed by the UN Charter, he said that it would be unacceptable if Kosovo was an exception. He also referred to the support of Russia, which according to him said would stick to the letter of the law as it would be contrary to its interests not to.
The world's separatist regions are waiting what will happen in Kosovo, so it is impossible that the solution of its status would create a precedent with long-term consequences, according to Draskovic.
He compared the issue to China's relationship with Taiwan, which lives independently although it formally remains a part of China. According to him, Serbia wants a solution that would give Kosovo a maximum independence within Serbia.
Asked by a reporter what Slovenian officials said about Serbia's new constitution, under which Kosovo is a part of Serbia, Draskovic said they congratulated him on the new constitution.
According to the prime minister's office, Jansa hailed the adoption of the document as a constitutional break with the regime of Serbia's former President Slobodan Milosevic.
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