Friday, July 01, 2005

SCG minister's secession remarks "unacceptable" - Slovene OSCE chair

Washington, 1 July: Slovene FM and OSCE chairman Dimitrij Rupel will discuss issues regarding the OSCE and the EU with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, while bilateral topics will not be on the agenda of their meeting later today, he told Slovene reporters in Washington on Friday [1 July].

Rupel said he was primarily interested in the US administration's stance on OSCE reform. [Passage omitted]

Rupel moreover labelled as "unacceptable" a statement by Serbia-Montenegro FM Vuk Draskovic, who said the status of Kosovo should be resolved hand in hand with that of the Republic of Srpska [Bosnian Serb Republic].

"The issue of Bosnia-Hercegovina is settled in the Dayton Agreements, and breaking it up in order to settle the issue of Kosovo is totally unacceptable," stressed Rupel.

He believes that such thinking could emerge at a time when SE Europe suddenly no longer has a prospect to join the EU. Convinced that the USA can help in tackling these problems, he reiterated Slovenia's interest for the EU to further enlarge to include this region.

Source: STA news agency, Ljubljana, in English 1125 gmt 1 Jul 05

No comments: