Byzantine Blog

Serbian Radical Party: The Facts

By Tomislav Nikolic, acting leader of the Serbian Radical Party and one of the most experienced Serbian parliamentarians, Washington Times

Sunday, Serbian voters will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. It is expected the Serbian Radical Party, which for some years has been Serbia's most popular and has held the greatest number of parliamentary seats, will form a new government, either alone or in coalition with other parties.

In such case, I am confident we finally will have a government that, unlike in the recent past, will have a unified position on the key challenges facing our country.

Rule of Law, European Integrations and Economic Liberalization while Preserving Serbian National and State Interests

Outside Serbia, this election often is portrayed as a choice between "pro-Western" parties determined to take Serbia "forward" toward "Europe" versus parties, led by the Radicals, looking "backward" toward "nationalism" and an exclusive pro-Moscow orientation.

This is not an accurate understanding of this election's importance. Rather, voters will choose either the direction advocated by the Radicals, in which rule of law, European integration and economic liberalization go hand-in-hand with Serbia's legitimate national interests, or they will choose an illusion of faster integration promised by other parties that would undermine Serbia's territorial integrity.

The latter choice would allow those same parties to continue business as usual, which has made their political leaders wealthy while most of our citizens struggle to pay for basic living necessities.

Tadic Offering Dangerous Illusions and Suicidal Jumps

Such parties, led by the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic, rely on scare tactics and false promises to stay in power and hope Serbian voters won't be able to see the falsity of such tactics and promises.

In fact, the Serbian Radical Party is not at all opposed to Serbia's accession to the European Union. However, the EU's relationship with Serbia must be based on mutual respect and observance of binding international commitments, including all provisions of the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Final Act.

Ultra-Nationalist? Based on What?

It should be kept in mind that Serbia is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse country in Europe. Far from the "ultra-nationalist" label some seek to apply to our party, the Radicals have embraced Serbia's multi-ethnic composition. As we have demonstrated in our party and our participation in local government, significant minority representation will also characterize a Radical-led national government.

The Radicals' economic policy is based on the free market and Serbia's potential as the key economy of the Danubian and west Balkan region. Eight years after the end of the rule of Slobodan Milosevic, there has yet to be a push for the restoration of communist-expropriated property. Our party will insist on redress and other overdue free-market reforms that will create more favorable conditions for foreign direct investment.

At the same time, we will vigorously pursue our mutual interests with Russia, as symbolized by Serbia's participation in the South Stream pipeline project that will help assure Western Europe's energy supplies.

Both East and West is the Only Way Forward

Far from representing Serbia's supposed rejection of the West in favor of Russia, we will maintain a healthy diversification of our commercial relations, including those with Russia — as have Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, and other EU and NATO members.

In building relations with all partners, East and West, the Radicals insist that Kosovo not be regarded as an exception to accepted norms of international behavior. Despite their professed intentions, the actions of some Western countries on Kosovo have not produced greater stability or ethnic peace and tolerance — in fact, the exact opposite.

Kosovo-Metohija Not for Sale

The Radicals reject any recognition of Kosovo's illegal claim of separation from Serbia and the dispatch of an EU mission to Kosovo precisely because these actions violate the very standards the United States and Europe claim to uphold, values the Radical Party and virtually all Serbs share.

Instead of further aggravating the situation in Kosovo and creating conditions for violence on the ground — to which Serbia would be forced to respond to protect our citizens and our spiritual and cultural heritage, as any other country would — the Radicals invite the West to return to the path of negotiation, compromise and the rule of law. This is not some kind of retrograde "nationalism." It is simple common sense and common decency.

This is the basis on which a new Radical Party-led government will extend the hand of friendship to the United States and Europe. We will expect nothing less in return.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

Why is Solana-Tadic Pact Unavailable to the Public?

Tanjug reported that, according to the Brussels' Office for Enlargement of the EU Commission, the Temporary Agreement signed by Tadic's party members in Luxembourg will be published by the EU only "in the next few months", and that there is a possibility of "technical corrections" in the translation of the document in contrast to the version signed on April 28.

"Certain technical corrections in translation of the signed text may occur", the EU bureaucrats told Tanjug "without clarifying what this actually means", the Tanjug reporter said.

The responsibility for the translation of the Temporary Agreement into Serbian lies on the Serbian side, but this version is being double-checked by the legal and linguistic experts of the European Commission and returned for corrections. The final version of the document in English will be published by the EU "in the next few months", the EU officials said.

Temporary Agreement was the second document Tadic's DS members signed in addition to the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Temporary Agreement is shorter than the SAA and, according to the EU officials, "it serves to enable the implementation of the trade part of the Agreement prior to its ratification which, within the EU, could take up to two years".

The EU officials have also confirmed to Tanjug that, contrary to Tadic's claims, not a single line of the SAA and the Temporary Agreement signed by DS is active now, nor will it be implemented before the EU Council of Ministers reaches a decision that Serbia has fulfilled the condition of finalizing the cooperation with the Hague.

Government Does Not Adopt Documents of Unknown Contents

Reacting to Tadic's announcement that the ministers belonging to his coalition will request government adoption of the Solana-Tadic pact, alongside the adoption of the Russian energy deal, scheduled for Friday, May 9, Premier Kostunica said he will not take part in the deception, since the DSS-NS [Kostunica's coalition] ministers are entirely unaware of the full contents, including the possible amendments to the two documents Tadic's party signed with Solana in Luxembourg.

Prime Minister Kostunica said that the original contracts signed by Bozidar Djelic on April 28 in Luxembourg have not been submitted to the Government of Serbia and that the ministers cannot consider adopting the contracts they are not fully familiar with, and certainly not based on someone's word.

Kostunica said it is unclear why the signed contracts have not been made available to the ministers and the public and how was it possible for these contracts to be kept hidden from the government and public.

"A case like this is unprecedented in the course of Serbian Government activities, as well as in the work of any other European state. However, sooner or later the real reasons for hiding the originals of the signed contracts will become clear," Kostunica said.

Kostunica also said that the government had never adopted a document contents of which were unknown to a number of ministers.

“Not only does Solana Agreement represent a deceit and signing away on Kosovo independence, but Tadic-Djelic signature was also put on an accompanying document that we have yet to see,” the prime minister cautioned.

He said that none of the ministers from the Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (DSS-NS) coalition had seen the Temporary Agreement which had accompanied the SAA Tadic and Djelic have signed.

“And now we hear that the [Tadic's] DS will try to present that agreement, which no one has yet seen, at the next cabinet meeting,” Kostunica said.

He said that Serbian citizens had to know that this was a case of “trying to pull off a grand hoax, and this is an agreement which goes directly against the state and Serbia’s national interests.”

“All this goes to show that, when one is dealing with deceit, one falls ever deeper into big mistakes,” surmised Kostunica.

Slippery Slope: Tadic's DS Plunging Headlong Into Disaster

DSS spokesman Andreja Mladenovic has also called on Tadic and Djelic to make the originals of the documents they signed public.

“The public has to know why are they hiding the Temporary Agreement and if there are any new amendments and annexes to the SAA,” Mladenovic said, adding that Tadic and Djelic were for some reason hiding both the Temporary Agreement and Solana’s SAA, which they signed in Luxembourg.

Mladenovic said that Tadic's party had claimed that it could not show that document to the public "because it was in a special electronic format."

“Then, how was that Temporary Agreement signed in the first place, if it is in a 'special electronic format', unknown to the public,” the DSS spokesman wondered.

“We call on Tadic and Djelic to say what are they trying to hide and where have they hidden the temporary agreement. Not only is it against the Constitution, but it’s downright bullying to request adoption of an illegal document that ministers and the public still haven’t seen,” Mladenovic said, adding that the DS “was plunging headlong into complete ruin and would bear full responsibility for this unconstitutional act.”

Cartoon by Milenko Kosanovic—edited

Posted by BBlog Staff at 02:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Thaci would Also Vote for Tadici

...If he didn't think he lives in a separate state, that is.

On the very same day the three members of a single political party in Serbia, Tadic's DS, signed the treacherous pact with Javier Solana in Luxembourg, Kosovo Albanian terrorist and war criminal Ramush Haradinaj congratulated Tadic on signing Kosovo-Metohija away.

U92 B92 reported on May 1 that "Ramush Haradinaj yesterday welcomed the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between Serbia and the EU", urging ethnic Albanians from Presevo Valley (Serbian region near the administrative line with Kosovo-Metohija province) to take part in the Serbian elections and vote for Tadic.

Today, Tanjug reported that another ethnic Albanian war criminal—Hashim Thaci—stated that he also favors Tadic's anti-Serbian coalition in the parliamentary elections, which would secure the anti-Serbian majority in the Serbian National Assembly and enable the creation of an anti-Serbian government.

According to Tanjug, Thaci said that the "victory of the democratic forces in Serbia would have a positive influence on inter-state relations between Kosovo and Serbia", adding that those positive influences would "reinforce the values USA, EU and NATO contributed to the region".

Step No. 2: KosovA Signs the Agreement with EU

Tanjug has also reported a statement by the Vice President of the Serbian Radical Party Dragan Todorovic, that "at the meeting held yesterday between the representatives of the USA, EU and Albania, also attended by Hashim Thaci, it was decided to sign the agreement with Kosovo which would lead to the EU membership".

"This document is titled Confirmation of the Communication between EU and Kosovo Regarding the Kosovo Action Plan for Joining the EU", Todorovic said.

He explained it was decided that the model for Kosovo accession to the EU will be the same as the one used for Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, "which means that there will be no signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Instead, Kosovo will automatically become a EU member."

Todorovic said the above mentioned document will be signed on May 9 or 10, adding that "we can now be completely certain that the signing of the SAA on behalf of Boris Tadic was the first step towards Serbia recognizing the independence of the fake state of Kosovo".

It will Be Up to Serbian Voters...

Similar, much more detailed information, was carried by the Belgrade daily Kurir, which also quoted the high UN official stationed in Pristina, who said that "in case some future coalition in the Serbian Parliament annuls Djelic's signature, Pristina would have a problem. The direction of the European integrations of Belgrade and Pristina was planned as a parallel process. If Serbia rejects the SAA, Kosovo would not have the opportunity to sign it either".

Posted by BBlog Staff at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)