Brussels: The European Union stated yesterday that the text of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), signed by the Serbian government and EU officials, cannot be altered at all. The officials of the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission in Brussels reiterated that such a step would require new negotiations.

In response to the “compromise solution,” offered by the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) on May 28, the EU top brass said, “that is legally and technically unacceptable.” The DSS had suggested that “a new national government” could come to an agreement with Brussels to add a clause stating that “Kosovo is an integral and inalienable part of Serbia” to the SAA.

The EU Council of Ministers pointed out that “Only new negotiations can alter the signed agreement.” The EU explained that in addition to it being legally and technically impossible to enter substantial changes to the signed SAA, “there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the Democratic Party of Serbia leader Vojislav Kostunica would accept the agreement with the EU at all, given the extremely unfavorable views he has expressed on the matter.”

When asked whether the EU could agree to reconsider “a compromise solution” for the SAA with Belgrade with a new Serbian government led once again by Kostunica, the EU office in Brussels stated “That is difficult to imagine because Kostunica, whose only goal is power, has inflicted great damage on Serbia’s relations with the EU.”

On the idea that a ruling coalition comprising the DSS, the Serb Radical Party and the Socialist Party of Serbia would most probably act differently than anticipated during the election campaign, the EU officials said that “Serbia deserves Europe’s support and a government that will embody Serbia’s true interests.”