Newly-inaugurated Serbian President Boris Tadic on Friday vowed to fight for Kosovo, yet not to give up the path to join the European Union (EU), the official Tanjug news agency reported.
"I will never give up fighting for our Kosovo and I will, with all my might, fight for Serbia to join the European Union," Tadic said at a ceremonial parliament session after he was sworn in.
"It is only in the EU that Serbia can defend Kosovo and only a stable and economically strong Serbia can defend its interests," he told a news conference after the inauguration.
He said that Serbia will enter a "frozen conflict phase" with all those countries which recognize Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, with bilateral relations "not to be of the quality they are today."
However, a "frozen conflict" does not mean to sever diplomatic ties with those countries, Tadic said, "since that would jeopardize Serbia's interests."
After talks between Belgrade and Pristina on the future status of Kosovo failed, the region's ethnic Albanians said they would unilaterally declare independence days after the Serbian presidential run-off, and they expect the United States and most EU countries to follow up with quick recognition. It is widely believed that Kosovo will declare independence on Sunday.
The ruling coalition of Serbia was in crisis recently as the two allies, Tadic's Democrat Party (DS) and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), were embroiled in a row over the signing of a political agreement with the EU and the consequent EU mission in Kosovo. Pro-western Tadic was in favor of the signing while Kostunica was against the move, citing it was tantamount to consent of Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari's Kosovo status plan.
The plan -- presented in early 2007 by Ahtisaari, who served as the UN's envoy to Kosovo -- calls for some 40 laws to be adopted before independence is declared. The plan is supported by the UN and a majority of the members of the EU.
The Serbian government has adopted a secret "Action Plan" to be implemented when Kosovo declares independence. It also adopted on Thursday a resolution to annul a unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo as it violates Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Serbian government said.
Kosovo was a southern autonomous province within Serbia before the breakup of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Among its population of 2 million, over 90 percent are ethnic Albanians and about 7 percent are Serbs.
The independence-seeking province has been run by the UN mission since NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces drove the Serbian troops out of it in 1999.
Source:Xinhua
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