President Tadic undermining Serbia's Kosovo efforts - Serb National Council

Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 14 July

[Announcer] Several dozen statements by Serbian President Boris Tadic regarding the fate of Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija] cannot be described in any other terms but as unsustainable behaviour which undermines efforts by the Serbian state to keep its southern province, says a statement submitted to our radio by the Serb National Council [SNV] for Northern Kosmet [headed by Milan Ivanovic] and the Serb National Council for Kosovo-Metohija.

This was evident during a recent public interview on Serbia's national television [RTS] when President Tadic said that Kosovo was lost for Serbia, which was reported by all major US media precisely during the visit by Serbian prime minister [Vojislav Kostunica] to the United States.

The statement by the Serb National Council emphasizes that such statements by President Tadic will not help our delegation to successfully advocate our state's position on Kosmet in Washington and New York. As for Tadic's position that his predecessors were the main culprits for the fate of Kosovo-Metohija but also the responsibility of the current statesmen, the statement added, history will be the best judge of that.

Moreover, Tadic's ostentatiously jocular and numerous visits to independent Montenegro are very visible and they are not in line with the Serbian president's publicly declared advocacy of the preservation of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, says the statement by the Serb National Council for Northern Kosmet and the Serb National Council for Kosovo-Metohija.

Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1400 gmt 14 Jul 06