By Prensa Latina
Belgrade : President of Serbia Boris Tadic assumed a second and final five-year term on Friday, at a solemn ceremony during which he insisted he will never renounce the province of Kosovo.
Tadic defeated his contender Tomislav Nikolic in the second round of presidential elections on February 3 and begins his second term two days before Albanian-Kosovars are set to declare their separation from Serbia.
There was expectation that the inauguration would be accompanied by an announcement in Pristina of the date of secession, presumably to be made by Albanian-Kosovar Prime Minister Hasim Taci, but he declined to make any official announcement on “grounds of prudence and security,” according to his spokesman.
Instead, the spokesman said, the provincial Parliament will proclaim independence on February 17, supported by the United States and about 20 members of the European Union.
In this regard, Tadic said “I will never give up fighting for Kosovo, and I will fight with all my might for Serbia to join the EU,”
and has offered a broad autonomy to live “separately withing common borders.”
Yesterday Serbia’s Foreign Relations Minister Vuk Jeremic assured the UN Security Council that his country will use all methods, except military force, in response to a unilateral declaration of independence.