Ahtisaari says proposal fair and balanced

Ahtisaari says proposal fair and balanced

The UN and its Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have refused to give detailed comments on the content of the proposal, which hasn’t yet been officially disclosed.

Marti Ahtisaari addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe today and confirmed that results of Vienna talks between Belgrade and Priština were incorporated into the proposal, even though no headway was made in the talks.

“My proposal focuses on securing the rights of minorities. It enables the functioning of a democratic and multiethnic Kosovo and provides all its citizens with equal rights, which are guaranteed and institutionally protected by the rule of law. Civic and military bodies of the international community will still operate in Kosovo”, Ahtisaari says.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Greece Costas Karamanlis said that the solution for Kosovo must secure and promote multiethnic and multicultural nature of the province.“The situation in Kosovo is much better now than it was 5 or 10 years ago, but it still needs constant attention from all interested parties. We hold that the solution must be acceptable for everyone and cannot be imposed”, he concludes.

Solana puts his trust in new UN resolution on Kosovo

After yesterday’s meeting of the European Troika and OSCE in Brussels, Solana said that UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari would try to forge a deal with Belgrade and Priština following the disclosure of his proposal.

“Mr. Ahtisaari will probably submit a report at the end of February, after talking to both sides”, said Solana adding that he didn’t see any reason to discuss the veto.

We have to expect that the negotiations will head in a direction where the resolution will be accepted in due time and without a veto. All UN Security Council members share the same interest, to preserve stability on the continent, said Solana.

Serbian delegation trying to ditch 'independence' word from resolution

The Serbian delegation attending the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly has been trying for two days to push through an amendment to the resolution on Kosovo, which holds that Kosovo needs independence to promote regional stability, although it was recognized that Belgrade had laid put strong arguments for their case.

The Serbian Delegation, with the help of a couple of British representatives, managed to propose the amendment of the paragraph that stipulates independence at the session of the Policy Committee held yesterday. The proposed amendment will be discussed later today. The Serbian delegation has faith in its colleagues from Romania, Russia and Greece, but admits that Lord Russell had a significant lobbying capacity and that it is hard to predict whether the text of the declaration will stay the same, without further amendments.

Head of the Serbian delegation Miloš Aligrudić said that Serbia should not fear a Council of Europe decision that is not favourable to Serbia. He explained that the resolution is not a mandatory piece of legislation, and it can only “slightly, albeit detrimentally” influence additional rounds of negotiations.

Janjić: Serbia should turn to European institutions

Head of the Forum for Ethnical Relations Dušan Janjić said that European administrative circles believe that the solution to the Kosovo issue would basically involve supervised independence. The EU would then present Belgrade with a special package providing rapid EU integration.

“European diplomats cling to their old standpoint, according to which Belgrade should give up Kosovo and make things easy for Brussels. Brussels will in return give Serbia the EU candidate status”, Janjić told B92.

“Serbia should deal with the upcoming Ahtisaari’s proposal very effectively, compile a list of remarks, and primarily come up with a ‘Plan B’, with directives for serious political action. The EU institutions now hold all the cards, and Belgrade has directed its diplomatic and political actions to the UN Security Council and the Contact Group. Therefore Serbia needs to be more active in the OSCE, the European Parliament and the European Commission and devise an appropriate strategy to that end.” concluded Janjić.