By EWB12.10.2018
BRUSSELS – Information that an amendment mentioning demarcation had been included in the Report on Progress of Serbia for European Parliament has been met with different interpretations, and the Parliament emphasised for Tanjug that a clear opinion on the proposal cannot be found in the amendment, while a solution that meets clearly defined conditions is not excluded.
With the adoption of the amendment referring to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, MEPs “took notice” of the discussion on a possible correction of borders and clearly established necessary conditions for any acceptable solution.
“The message we sent together is that we acknowledge the discussions and the debate, but also that we are very clear about it being mutually agreed upon between the two sides, that contributes to the regional stability and that it has to be in accordance with international law”, rapporteur for Serbia David McAllister stated.
Sources from European Parliament state for Tanjug that the concrete amendment was written as a subject of compromise and thus “every word in it is significant”.
It is also a fact that some MEPs and even some political groups could hold a different opinion from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
For example, during the debate, Socialists and Democrats representative Tanja Fajon warned about possible destabilization of the region in the case of a border change as a part of Belgrade-Pristina agreement.
”I know that it is a sensitive issue and that the goal was to have an identical text for both sides in the process. From the experience of Slovenia I can only say that any border change would destabilize the region and therefore has to be avoided”, stated Fajon.
President of the Parliamentary Committee for cooperation with Serbia Eduard Kukan said that intensive discussions on what kind of agreement between Belgrade and Pristina would be acceptable are still in progress.
Having in mind the sensibility of this issue, we must have a careful approach, emphasized Kukan.
European Parliament is currently working on a final version of a text that would include all adopted amendments and that would be a subject of a debate and voting of a parliamentary assembly of the EP on 28 and 29 November.
The text should be published officially next week, after it goes through legal and linguistic reviews, Tanjug found out in Brussels.