Todorovic:Start of SAA ratification has no real significance

BELGRADE, June 14 (Tanjug) - Opposition Serbian Radical Party (SRS) whip in the Serbian parliament Dragan Todorovic said Monday that the "start of the ratification of Serbia's Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) has no real significance for Serbia."

"Serbia has already lost hundreds of millions of euros because of the SAA and the important thing is that the blackmailing of Serbia will not stop," Todorovic told Tanjug.

According the him, "the EU will now put pressure on Serbia to grant a greater degree of recognition for Kosovo's independence," and demand "further steps toward the separation or independence of Vojvodina."

Todorovic also noted that Raska will probably become another problem area and that the Serbian people cannot expect a better future because the EU "only works in on way - through blackmail and pressure."

DSS spokesperson: SAA ratification decision symbolic

BELGRADE, June 14 (Tanjug) - Democratic Party of Serbia Spokesperson Petar Petkovic described Monday the decision by the EU Foreign Affairs Council to start the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia as a symbolic act.

Petkovic told Tanjug that the SAA ratification will only make sense when the parliaments of all the individual EU members adopt it, adding that those EU countries that have recognized Kosovo would not ratify the document, or would do it "for Serbia without Kosovo."

"The ratification could take years, and it depends solely on Serbia's attitude towards Kosovo," said Petkovic.

Diocese of Raska-Prizren denies monk exodus

BELGRADE, June 14 (Tanjug) - The press service of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija denied Monday the claims that there had been a mass exodus of monks from that diocese and appealed to the media to disregard the statements made by certain renegade monks.

According to the information from the diocese and the Ministry of Religion, there are 176 monks and nuns in the diocese. The number does not include novices, who still do not have monk or nun status. All priests are tending to their regular duties, and although a small group has left certain monasteries of their own accord, none have been left empty, says the announcement by the diocese.

The release says that the group in question consists mostly of monks who have changed their residence a number of times and decided to live in private houses.

"The Diocese of Raska-Prizren denies the false statements by certain renegade monks and appeals to the media to not to view the statements given by those persons or their followers as relevant views by the Church, since they are a deliberate attempt to deceive the public," says the release.

The announcement adds that life at the Crna Reka Monastery, from which a number of monks left recently, has returned to normal.

Report: Kosovo source and destination for human trafficking

PRISTINA, June 14 (Tanjug) - Kosovo is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution, it is said in the U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report for 2010.

The report published Monday notes that most foreign victims of forced prostitution are women from Eastern Europe including Moldova, Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia, report the media in Pristina.

"Kosovo women and children are subjected to forced prostitution within Kosovo and also in countries throughout Europe," reads the report.

NGOs reported identifying more than 300 children, particularly from Roma communities, forced to beg in Kosovo.

The Kosovo government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, says the State Department report.

Feith: Decentralization south of Ibar has been successful

GRACANICA, June 14 (Tanjug) - International Civilian Representative in Kosovo Pieter Feith assessed Monday that the decentralization process south of Ibar River has been successful and expressed hope that the citizens of northern Kosovo will show greater interest in this process.

Feith said in Gracanica municipality that the citizens can see what can be accomplished with decentralization and how much good it brings to the Serb community.

The success of decentralization south of Ibar River will show the citizens in northern Kosovo what are the benefits of this process, Feith said. The taking over of jurisdiction and the quality of services that they will receive from their municipal administrations. We want for the inhabitants of northern Kosovo to be interested in what is being done here and in what has been accomplished, Feith underscored.

Feith headed the delegation of the International Steering Group that visited Gracanica and talked with the leadership of the newly formed municipality.

Kosovo Minister of Local Government Administration Sadri Ferati also visited Gracanica.

Ferati said that decentralized municipalities have become strong institutions, adding that he hopes that decentralization will be carried out in northern Kosovo as well.

The international community and Kosovo citizens realize that this is in everyone's best interest, Ferati pointed out. I hope that, at the next meeting of International Steering Group, we will be able to discuss the progress made in northern Kosovo, he added.

KPS find grenades in Kosovo

BELGRADE, June 14 (Tanjug) - Members of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) found several explosive devices on the main road Mitrovica-Zvecan in Kosovo.

KPS discovered two rifle grenades and two hand grenades, and handed them over to specialized KFOR units, KPS Deputy Regional Director of Operations Ergin Medic told Tanjug.

He said that a police patrol unit from Zvecan acted upon an anonymous report and found the explosive devices wrapped in a bag and placed in a container on the main road Mitrovica-Zvecan last weekend.

Limdal: EULEX satisfied with corruption investigation so far

PRISTINA, June 14 (Tanjug) - The EULEX mission said that it is so far satisfied with the investigation that was launched over suspicions of corruption and organized crime in Kosovo's institutions, and pointed out that this is the beginning of a long process.

It is now safe to say that the investigation is going well and EULEX will prove it. EULEX has been pointing out that more time is required for such complicated investigations. The events in the past few weeks confirm that EULEX was serious in its approach, but this is just the beginning, EULEX spokeswoman Karin Limdal told the Pristina-based daily Koha Ditore.

Limdal said that EULEX prosecutors are still not thinking about the start of arrests of suspects involved in corruption and organized crime throughout Kosovo.

Limdal added that the mission is very calm, since the results of the investigation show that everything is going as planned.

Negative report of PACE Committee on situation in Kosovo

BELGRADE, June 14 (Tanjug) - Chairperson of the Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and former Swedish defense minister Bjorn von Sydow stressed in his latest report on Kosovo that the situation in the province is very bad concerning the rule of law, adding that there are problems such as the position of minority populations, violation of human rights, independence of the judiciary, corruption, human trafficking, discrimination, etc.

In his report, which will soon be presented to the PACE MPs and based on which a resolution should also be adopted, Sydow primarily mentions Kosovo standards rather its Kosovo status, stressing the COE's neutrality regarding the latter and its observance of the Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council.

That is the main point of my report, Sydow said. After Kosovo's declaration of independence, I requested that the COE and PACE should find a common legal denominator, and its motto is: standards not status. That is why I specifically focused on standards, and left aside the issue of status, which is to be assessed by others, he underscpred.

Sydow said that, in his report, he pointed to the areas which should be reformed in order to enable all people in Kosovo to live by European standards.

ISG representatives meet in Pristina

PRISTINA, June 14 (Tanjug) - Representatives of foreign ministries of the International Steering Group for Kosovo (ISG) member countries will meet in Pristina on Monday, for the 11th time since the unilateral proclamation of independence by the (interim) Kosovo institutions.

ISG member countries' representatives will first visit Gracanica and talk with the officials of the newly formed central Kosovo municipality with majority Serb population.

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