New OSCE chief discusses mission goals

OSCE mission chief in Serbia, Dimitrios Kypreos said that the mission will work on strengthening the institutions, rule of law, regional cooperation.

The Greek diplomat who took over as mission chief in September told daily Politika that none of these questions are more important than the other, because “all democratic institutions are very important.”

As far as Kosovo is concerned, he said that the “OSCE, not only the mission in Serbia, but as an organizations, has a very clear stance—it is neutral in status.”

“I would say that the question of Kosovo is not only Serbia’s concern, but a concern of all the countries in the region,” Kypreos said, adding that he recently told the Serbian Prime Minister that it is “the right moment to make a decisive step in the question of regional cooperation, and to move from a plan of general trust to true, concrete trust.”

“This should firstly be a question which is of joint interest to Serbia and its neighboring states,” he said, calling the regional conference on the fight against organized crime that was recently organized by the Serbian government a “shining example” of this.

He said that such a conference was until recently an unimaginable situation.

“I think that honest trust and mutual dependence is achieved in that way. Another example is Corridor 10, which shows that the EU countries can be linked to the region very easily,” he said.

Kypreos said that the Western Balkan region is of exceptional importance to security, not only in the region.

“I am of the impression that the Western Balkans region belongs to a wider context of security in Southeast Europe and Europe as a whole,” he said.

Speaking of media in Serbia, Kypreos said that the goal is for media to work according to regulations, as is does in other societies.

“It is hard to say what the best practice is, in every society there are problems and everyone has specific needs and conditions for functioning. I would say that the goal is to have a good law that will completely be in accordance with what Serbia needs, and be in accordance with international laws as well,” Kypreos said.