YouSaid · the spoken record

President Vueic

lines on the record
18
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2018-12-17
most recent
2018-12-17
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “(spoke in Serbian; English interpretation provided by the delegation) I want to commend my Serbian brothers and sisters for everything they have lived through and the torture they continue to face. I want them to know that Serbia will always stand by them.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  2. “As a result, Serbs are not going to get anything. My question for everyone here is: What should that future dialogue be about? Should it be about coloured marbles that kids play with in the schoolyard, or what? Despite everything that I have said, Serbia is always ready to resume the process of dialogue. We would like to call on the United Nations to play a bigger role in the future. We have nothing against the European Union-sponsored dialogue, but we need the United Nations to become more involved in the entire process. We need to see some steps taken by Pristina. It needs to withdraw those terrible tariffs and take other actions. That will enable us to ensure the safety of our people. In conclusion, let me speak just two sentences in the Serbian language with regard to the people who are living in Kosovo and Metohija.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  3. “But we beg all members of the Council - and this is my biggest plea tonight - for someone to curb and tame those people because, to put it very lightly, the measures that they have taken recently are not coherent with the twenty-first century. Ultimately, they do have one sovereign right. They have formed another negotiating team that includes former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army who are under investigation for committing terrible crimes against Serbian civilians. But that does not matter - I will set that aside. There is something more important. They have articulated all of their prerequisites for the future dialogue, which include our recognition of the independence of Kosovo and our understanding that Kosovo gets to determine its own borders. And they are not even going to change their State's form, which is unitary.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  4. “I want to inform the Council that since we started our dialogue in 2012 - which resumed in 2013 - Kosovo has received an additional 19 recognitions from all over the world and we have not said a single word. We have not been angry. We have not caused any problems in the field. We have not attacked anyone. We have not threatened anyone. However, when reversal process started, all of a sudden it was our fault. I just want to tell the Council that Serbia has always done everything it could to maintain stability, tranquillity and peace in the entire region. We will refrain from taking the wrong steps in the future as well, because we have suffered a lot in the past and we cannot allow any more of our children to be killed in different types of wars, hostilities and clashes.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  5. “It is just one example of what they do to Serbs who, not daring to go back to the homes they left behind, go only to visit them. Mr. Lacroix said that people from Pristina were angry with us because of an issue related to Kosovo's bid to join INTERPOL. We begged them not to go there without finalizing their dialogue with Serbia, but they wanted to go there. We were just defending ourselves. We were just defending the sovereign and independent State of Serbia in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations - nothing more than that. Some people claim that Kosovo reacted that way because we started a campaign to revoke its independence.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  6. “They have already breached that rule several times, even beating the Serbian chief negotiator just because he was sitting at a round table in north Mitrovica discussing an issue related to our dialogue with Pristina. I will give one important example that best depicts what is happening in Kosovo and Metohija: that of Bogdan Mitrovic, a Serb expelled from Musutiste village. He had wanted to go to what I referred to earlier as the charred remnants of his village, together with his wife and their three daughters and 6-year-old grandson. Instead of being able to visit their devastated house, he was arrested, viciously treated in the presence of his daughters and grandson and then taken into custody, where he remained for months. There were no indictments or further investigations. That is not the only such case.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  7. “I must inform the Council that Kosovo and Metohija is officially the territory with the lowest rate of returnees in the world. Imagine - only 1.5 per cent of people have gone back to what are the mainly charred remnants oftheir homes. Only 1.5 per cent. The Council has dealt with many different issues here in this Chamber, but there is no similar issue in the entire world. They created an army and started to threaten to violate and breach even more of the arrangements that we had signed with various organizations, arrangements we had with those organizations, including their presence in the northern part of Kosovo. Regarding arrangements with NATO, the only possibility for them to go with their armed forces to the north is to get consent from NATO, first, and also from the Serb local community.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  8. “Here I wish to quote a statement by the EU-8 - the five EU members of the Security Council, that is, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as Italy, Belgium and Germany - that I received only five minutes before I entered this Chamber: "The initiation of the process of transition of the Kosovo Security Force is Kosovo's sovereign right." My question to all present is: from which document, from which article, paragraph or rule did they derive that right? Where is it written? I can tell the Council the answer in advance: nowhere. It is just an interpretation - a very bad interpretation - by some countries because it is in their own political interests. I havejust mentioned the safe return of all returnees to their homes.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  9. “It is not even written in that form in their own Constitution, because their own Constitution - which we admit we do not recognize - states in its article 144, paragraph 2: "Any amendment shall require for its adoption the approval of two thirds (2/3) of all deputies of the Assembly including two thirds (2/3) of all deputies of the Assembly holding reserved or guaranteed seats for representatives of communities that are not in the majority in the Republic of Kosovo." Of course, they could not find seven Serbs to vote for that, and then, who cares? Who cares about the law? Who cares about the facts? They made a decision, and they formed the so-called Kosovo armed forces. Unexpectedly, even surprisingly, they received tremendous support for that from various Western countries.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  10. “Paragraph 4 of annex 2 to resolution 1244 (1999) reads as follows: "The international security presence, with substantial North Atlantic Treaty Organization participation, must be deployed under unified command and control and authorized to establish a safe environment for all people in Kosovo and to facilitate the safe return to their homes of all displaced persons and refugees." In addition, paragraph 9(b) of the resolution clearly envisages not only the demilitarization of the Kosovo Liberation Army but of all other armed Kosovo Albanian groups; this is absolutely clear. Aside from that, there is another question: from which document - and that is my open question to all present - do they derive their so-called sovereign right to form their own military? Where is that written? In which document?”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  11. “Ban Ki-moon's reply: "Let me also stress that Security Council 1244 (1999) remains the legal framework for the continuing international security presence in Kosovo and clearly outlines its mandate, which is to provide for a secure environment for all. To this effect, UNMIK will continue to work very closely with the international security force in Kosovo in the fulfilment of these responsibilities." Let me remind the Council of something else.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  12. “Even that was not enough. Now I must say something regarding resolution 1244 (1999). Not only the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) but the Kosovo Force (KFOR) derive all their competencies and authorities from that document. It was not NATO's decision; it was a decision by the Security Council to provide these competencies to KFOR in Kosovo. What happened? Since 2014 they had been announcing their strong wish to form their own military. Let me remind the Council that Serbia, in a letter by its Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ivan Mrkic, dated March 2014, warned Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the possibility of creating a very dangerous situation in the region through the creation of the so-called Kosovo armed forces. Here is Mr.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  13. “When they saw that their Albanian public audience reacted well to that measure, they increased the tariffs up to 100 per cent. In effect, they killed any kind of trade between central Serbia and Kosovo. What is more, they jeopardized the entire Serb community in Kosovo, because that is the only way for those people to earn the money to survive, to obtain medications, to go to Serb- run hospitals and health-care centres; that has always been the only way for them to live. Not to mention the fact that they violated and breached all those agreements, a fact to which even the European Union (EU) made reference. They put it all aside. But can you imagine someone in the twenty-first century in effect banning and forbidding the free flow of goods, capital and people just because they did not like a political decision from the other side?”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  14. “But Kosovo wanted to do so because it was counting on the support of the United States and several EU countries in the belief that it would win - and it lost. With regard to INTERPOL, in the first round of voting it obtained less than 50 per cent of votes - 76 votes in favour against 78. They then started to blame Serbia, as it were our fault, as if we had to support them, as if that were our obligation. Of course, it was not. Many countries, important countries in various parts of the world, voted against their membership. But all of a sudden, they imposed tariffs, in contravention of the Central European Free Trade Agreement and the Stabilization and Association Agreement, against Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. First, it was 10 per cent.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  15. “But that was not enough. We warned Pristina and the European Union (EU), because we have an ongoing negotiating process under the auspices of the EU, as the Council is aware. We proposed that we should resolve all of our problems within the framework of our dialogue process. We asked that they not force us into difficult situations that would create a terrible atmosphere between us when Kosovo wishes to join different international organizations, which we consider to be a provocation, because Serbia is the only sovereign and independent State under resolution 1244 (1999), unless something has changed that we have not been informed about. We begged Kosovo not to apply for full-fledged membership of INTERPOL, UNESCO, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity and other organizations and international bodies.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  16. “We made a lot of concessions and it was very difficult for our people to accept them, but we signed it and we have fulfilled it. On the other hand, the only obligation that had to be delivered by Pristina - the only one, and the first 6 of the 15 items in the Brussels Agreement are all related to that one obligation - was the formation of a Serb community. It does not matter whether it is called a community or an association. That was its one and only obligation, and yet today, almost 2,070 days later, Kosovo has failed to put that into action and has no intention to do so in the future. Serbia, on the other hand, has fulfilled everything, including the police arrangement, the justice and judiciary arrangement, the telecoms arrangement and participation in municipal elections under the Kosovo law - absolutely everything that we signed.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  17. “First of all, I would like to tell the Council that Serbia has invested huge efforts and great endeavour in maintaining the peace, tranquillity and stability of the entire region of the Western Balkans. We have done everything that we could have done, refraining from responding to different types of provocation from Pristina. We have always been very restrained and we do not accept the kind of phrase that has become customary when two sides are called upon to do something or not to do something. Serbia has done almost everything in its power to implement everything that has been agreed so far. As the Council members knows, we signed the First Agreement of Principles Governing the Normalization of Relations between Belgrade and Pristina in April 2013. Serbia has fulfilled all of its obligations under the Agreement.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source

  18. “President Vueic': I am profoundly grateful to the Council for convening this meeting at such short notice. We think that it was very important and very right to do so, owing to the terribly difficult situation on the ground that has led to us face more and more difficulties in the area of Kosovo and Metohija. I have to say that I am very worried, concerned about and even a bit afraid of and for the future not only of my people and our country, Serbia, but of the entire region. I listened very carefully to Under-Secretary-General Lacroix and I would like to say something different than what he said, although I agree with many of the things that he expressed.”

    2018-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8427 (2018) · source