Serbian premier for compromise on Kosovo "without absolute winners or losers"

[Presenter] Serbia is ready for a compromise as far as is concerned, but our country's internationally recognized borders
cannot be changed, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has said
in Takovo at a celebration marking the 190th anniversary of the second
Serbian uprising [against Ottoman rule in 1815]. Serbia is faced by
the huge task of achieving its full freedom, and this is possible only
through adopting a new constitution for Serbia, Kostunica emphasized.
presumably: The people] in Serbia know what
their goals are and which road to follow. If all of us worked on
realizing those goals, the results would naturally follow, Kostunica
said.
[Kostunica, speaking with a microphone] Also, we should measure our
own strengths today, too, as well as assess realistic international
circumstances and we should find the true path to a compromise
solution for Kosovo-Metohija in which there will be no absolute
winners or absolute losers, because it cannot happen that one side
gets everything and the other loses everything. We want political dialogue, and we want to find a joint solution
through patient talks which would respect the interest of both peoples
[Serb, Albanian] and contribute to preserving stability both in our
country and in the whole region.

[Reporter] The Serbian prime minister emphasized that we had passed
the biggest obstacle now that we had received a positive Feasibility
Study [on joining the EU] and moved on towards the European Union.

The best road to Europe is the union of Serbia and Montenegro,
Vojislav Kostunica said.

[Kostunica] They rightly say: the hardest thing is to make the first
steps, and this is now already behind us. There will still be much
hard work left, which we must do, but from now on we surely know where
we are going, what is our goal and what awaits us on that road.

I am convinced that this first institutional step which our country
made in the process of European integration would act in an
integrative manner, integrative also with regard to relations within
the [Serbia-Montenegro] state union.

[Reporter] Moderation, perseverance and political wisdom were the key
characteristics of Milos Obrenovic's [Serbian leader who won extensive
autonomy for Serbia from the Ottomans, and leader of the second
uprising] policy. It is important that Serbia should continue on that
road, the prime minister said at a celebration prompted by the 190th
anniversary of the beginning of the second Serbian uprising.