Monday, June 20, 2005

Swiss Foreign Minister Pleads for Kosovo’s Independence in Belgrade

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Ray stated upon meeting with her SCG counterpart Vuk Draskovic in Belgrade last Friday that the principle of standards before status was becoming counterproductive and that the time for the beginning of dialogue on the status of Kosovo was coming. She emphasized that Switzerland supports some kind of formal independence of Kosovo and the respect of an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, with the honoring of minority rights in the province. She stated after talking to Serbian President Boris Tadic that Switzerland "does not favor Kosovo's unconditional independence," and stressed that there would be no compromise concerning standards in Kosovo, especially concerning minorities. To the head of the Coordination Center for Kosovo (CCK) Nebojsa Covic she told that the "road to Kosovo's formal independence should not be confused with essential independence or some kind of sovereignty," thus confirming the stance her country presented at the last session of the UN Security Council dedicated to Kosovo and claiming that "a return of Kosovo to Serb sovereignty is neither desirable nor realistic. Nevertheless, the evolution toward Kosovo's formal independence must happen under close international monitoring, as well as through negotiations with the authorities in Belgrade, as this independence cannot be imposed on them," Belgrade electronic media reported.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do the Swiss do other than hold and make bank accounts for corrupt countries and stay out of harms way for thier efforts, they make cheese too I guess, maybe some wine. An EU thing.

Anonymous said...

Albanians should honor minority rights just like our ancestors did, by respecting the minority. Yet, unlike our ancestors, we must not fall into the trap again where we find ourselves in an unfavorable position and end up fighting their guns and artilery.

Switzerland is one of the greatest countries in the world, yes there are many dark bank accounts but that's only cause they happen to be smarter than the rest of the Europeans.

Anonymous said...

Whoever says something against the Swiss is simply jealous of their achievements.

Anyways, Micheline Calmy-Ray told some powerful shit to Serbs in their face.

Nice! Very nice indeed.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it commonly accepted that the Nazis implemented a collaborationist regime in Albania in WWII with enthusiastic support of the native population? I took a course about WWII at Harvard last year, and we were taught that the Serbs fought the Nazis, not the Albanians (under Tito's partisans and Mihajlovic's Chetniks).

Anonymous said...

hmmm, interesting. I read that Tito's multi-ethnic partisans were pivotal in slowing the Nazis down. I know that Belgrade fell fast to the Nazis, but the partisans continuously raided and attacked them, which slowed them down terribly and took up human resources. They were so important that Winston Churchill decided to support them in their fight against Hitler.