Swiss expert criticizes proposal

Serbian government’s legal advisor Thomas Fleiner has criticised the proposal on the future of the disputed province.

Izvor: Swissinfo

Sunday, 04.02.2007.

10:26

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Swiss expert criticizes proposal

The Swiss Foreign Ministry, has, however, welcomed Ahtisaari's recommendations.

Ahtisaari's plan, presented on Friday, recommends that Kosovo should be able to govern itself and make international agreements.

It did not explicitly mention independence, but observers have hailed it as taking the first tentative step on the road to possible statehood. The proposal has already been rejected by top Serbian officials.

In an interview published in Saturday's edition of Le Temps, Fleiner said he was not optimistic about the plan.

"For me the only solution for Kosovo is to clearly reach a consensus between the parties and not a limping compromise resulting from international pressure," the head of Fribourg University's Institute of Federalism said.

Ahtisaari has called a meeting between the two sides in Vienna later this month in which both sides are, according to the UN envoy, to be given one more chance to find a compromise.

However, Fleiner said that this was putting too much pressure on the Serbs and could be exploited by the nationalists.

He said that in ethnic conflicts it was often the process and negotiations that counted more than the final solution and that the international community could learn its lessons from the situations in Cyprus and in the Middle East.

For her part, Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has several times stated her support for Kosovo's independence.

Fleiner called on the government to continue its efforts, but emphasised that for now Serbia did not consider Bern to be neutral in the matter.

A foreign ministry spokesman, quoted in Le Temps, said the ministry welcomed Ahtisaari's latest recommendations.

Switzerland has not participated in the official negotiations but has collaborated with the UN envoy by giving him assistance on decentralization and protection of minorities issues, spokesman Philippe Jeanneret was quoted as saying.

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