Serbia may reinstate ambassadors
Diplomats were withdrawn over Kosovo support
PARIS - Serbia's government may reinstate ambassadors it recalled from countries that recognized an independent Kosovo, a policy shift that senior Serbian officials said Belgrade was considering to show its firm commitment to the West.
Serbia has recalled ambassadors from several countries - including France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, Italy, and the United States - to protest their decision to recognize Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February. Serbia considers Kosovo its medieval heartland and has called its unilateral declaration of independence a reckless breach of international law.
But Vuk Jeremic, Serbia's young, pro-European foreign minister, said in an interview in Paris yesterday that his country's new pro-Western government was determined to mend ties with Brussels and Washington, even if Belgrade's opposition to Kosovo's independence remained as emphatic as ever.
He said the possibility of reinstating Serbia's ambassadors, which he planned to discuss during the weekend with President Boris Tadic, would potentially affect about 20 ambassadors in countries where Serbia had diplomatic embassies. He said the policy review reflected a new constructive approach to relations with the European Union and the United States.
"The two foreign policy priorities of our new government are integrating Serbia into the European Union and continuing our diplomatic struggle to defend our sovereignty and preserve our territorial integrity," Jeremic said. He added that Belgrade was prepared to engage with all parties, including ethnic Albanian officials in Pristina, to solve the impasse over Kosovo.
The pro-Western coalition government, which was formed last week, is the product of an unlikely union between Tadic's Democrats and the Socialist Party, once led by Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian strongman. But while some Western diplomats and Serbian liberals have expressed alarm about the inclusion of Milosevic's party in the government, Jeremic, a leading Democrat, said he was convinced the Socialists were committed to bringing Serbia into the EU.
He said the Democrats had also received assurances that the Socialists, who took Serbia to war with the West in the 1990s, would not stand in the way of the EU's demands that Serbia hand over war criminals in The Hague. "The Socialists are no longer Milosevic's party - Milosevic is dead," he said. "The party joined with us to pursue European integration."
While Belgrade appeared to be moderating its tone on Kosovo, Jeremic made it clear that Serbia's core policy of opposing Kosovo's independence had not changed. He said he had recently been engaged in diplomacy in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas to lobby countries not to recognize what Serbia considers a false state.
So far, 43 of the UN's 192 members have recognized Kosovo, the Kosovo government says. The newborn country received a significant lift last week when an international donor's conference in Brussels raised 1.2 billion euros, or nearly $1.9 billion, in aid.
