Dacic: Day of shame in PACE

BELGRADE - Tuesday was a "day of shame" in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic said last night following a PACE decision to recommend CoE membership for the so-called Kosovo.

"Today is a day of shame in the PACE. For the first time in history, membership has been recommended for something that is not a state and that, in addition, does not meet the basic conditions in the domain of human rights and freedoms," Dacic said in a statement released by the Serbian MFA.

He noted that, for 11 years now, Pristina had been refusing to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities - its international obligation - and conducting a policy of terror and ethnic cleansing against the Serbs.

He said the PACE decision, imposed by force by global power wielders, undermined the foundations of the CoE and international legal order.

"What principle of protecting territorial integrity will they keep talking about when they have violated the territorial integrity of Serbia? We will continue our fight with all our strength, we will fight against the decision getting adopted by the Committee of Ministers on May 16. And we will see how much the word of the international community that was given to President Aleksandar Vucic is worth, and whether it will be a lie again," Dacic said, noting that the international community had promised the Serbian president the so-called Kosovo would not be admitted to the CoE until it formed the Community.

On Tuesday evening, the PACE passed rapporteur Dora Bakoyannis's draft report recommending that the so-called Kosovo be admitted to the CoE.

A hundred and thirty-one of 171 assembly members in attendance voted in favour of the recommendation, 29 voted against and 11 abstained.

The final decision on the recommendation will be made by the CoE Council of Ministers in Strasbourg at a session scheduled for May 16-17.