Thursday, April 27, 2006

Kosovo government official confirms PM seeks to hire two Croatian advisors

Prishtina [Pristina], 25 April: Kosova [Kosovo] Prime Minister Agim Ceku has been making efforts to reinforce his staff with two additional international advisers. This time, he is planning to have two senior officials from Croatia - Milorad Pupovac, a Serb deputy in the Croatian Assembly, and Neven Mimica, a former Croatian minister of European integration. Kosova government spokeswoman Ulpiana Lama has confirmed this news.

"Yes, it is true that the prime minister has requested consultation from international experts, and this is not an isolated case. The prime minister has international advisers for other areas such as, for instance, the economy," Lama said. According to her, in both cases, consulting was requested because the prime minister considers the integration of minorities and European integration as issues of paramount importance.

"It is normal to seek individuals with expertise and experience in respective areas, that is, people who know very well the region's problems and have proven to be successful in their previous assignments." [Passage omitted]

Milorad Pupovac is a deputy in the Croatian Assembly and chairman of the Independent Democratic Serb Party of Croatia. The reason why Ceku wants to hire him as adviser is that Pupovac would work on the issue of displaced people from Kosova. He is considered to have been successful in this field, more specifically, the return of displaced Serbs to Croatia.

"Mr Pupovac has a respectable career and has played an impressive role in the area of political, social and economic integration of the Serb minority in Croatia. It is obvious that this issue has some specifics, which means that it is more logical to engage Mr Pupovac as an adviser on minority (especially Serb) issues, than, let us say, an expert from Albania, Macedonia or some other country from the region," Lama said. [Passage omitted]

Based on internet writing, Pupovac was a supporter of Croatia's independence, and was harshly criticized by media and political circles in Serbia.

The second adviser that Ceku is seeking to hire - Neven Mimica - is a member of the Croatian Social Democratic Party. He is known as a moderate official. He served as a minister both in the previous Croatian government and the actual one headed by Ivo Sanader. Mimica is an economist by vocation and has very successfully performed the job of the European integration minister in the Croatian government.

The reason why Ceku wants Mimica is that is he wants him to implement his experiences on integration in Kosova. Croatia is the first country of the Western Balkans that has been given the status of the EU candidate.

"As regards the integrating processes, Croatia is a positive example, and Mr Mimica, at some point, minister of integration, has his share of success in this positive story," Lama said.

Our newspaper could not contact any of the two above-mentioned Croatian officials. [Passage omitted]

Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 26 Apr 06 p 3

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't Milorad Pupovac turn this job down already-he knows that Ceku is an ethnic cleanser.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

This is what Pupovac said according to your Serbian sources:

"The only possibility is offering my experience to the Serbian community in Kosovo or the international organisations that are helping in the discussions between Belgrade and Pristina, and this would be in a limited capacity because of all of the responsibilities I have in Croatia with the return of Serb refugees to the region and the status of Serbs."


Anyway, this is what Çeku wanted him to do anyway...

Anonymous said...

Heku çka ka keq qe kryeministri ka kërkuar që disa kroat të marrin pjesë në shtetin e Kosoves? Ceku ka menduar fort mire sepse ky akt trregon pjekuri në nivelin e qeveris plus më mirë me pas punë me kroat se me shkije që kan kërkesa iluzionare. Plus ndose këta eksperta nuk mund të kthejin shkije prapa në Kosovë atehere do të jete problemi i tyre jo i Shqiptarve. Brravo Ceku!

Anonymous said...

I hope Ceku can take care of the most important piece of business of all regarding Kosovo and the relations between Serbia and Albania, which is compromising the idea of an independent Kosovo. Many Albanians already recognize Kosovo as an Albanian province and they expect it to be annexed with Albania proper. This will never happen, as Albania cannot, historically, stake a claim to Kosovo. It was never Albania, it was always Serbian. Yes, there were Albanians living in Kosovo for centuries, but it still doesn't constitute Kosovo being annexed with Albania proper. It is the same thing with Serbs living in Croatia. There has been a community of Serbs in Croatia for centuries, but those lands were never Serbian, therefore they cannot stake a claim to it. The Serbs tried to take it by force, as we all know, and failed. But even if the Serbs were successful in that war...the Sebian-held areas would still not be recognized internationally as Serbia. This same effect will happen with Kosovo. The best thing for Kosovo is for it to remain as a Serbian province, with the Albanian community having the greatest say in the area. Once Ceku can get the Kosovar Albanians to recognize that they are an Albanian community in a Serbian province, then they will be able to progress.

Anonymous said...

NYoutlawyer

Who do u think you are you already lost support twice from Russia about Kosova issue. Frist one the bombim of Serbia in 1999, then recently the pronociation of Russian politicians that won't be vetoing the issue of Kosovo in Security council.

So, just have a look on www.b92.net comments of peoples comming from Serbia.
And shut up.
If USA decides to recognize Kosova's independence who do we care if you recognise it or not we gonna have a seat in EU parliament and soon even in UN. So fuck up you cocksucker with your Mladic, Milosevic, and other serbians "heroes"!