Ahtisaari presents sum of efforts

Ahtisaari presents sum of efforts

Ahtisaari left the EU Council of Ministers building without issuing a statement, telling gathered journalists he had “no time for that”.

Asked whether Ahtisaari’s presentation of his proposal qualified for a well-structured and clearly defined solution, the British officials present said it was mostly a sum of the UN envoy’s activities so far.

Earlier, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, EU Foreign and Security Policies Chief Javier Solana and the Finnish EU Presidency have supported Ahtisaari’s decision for giving his proposal for the status solution to the Serbian and Albanian sides after the January 21 parliamentary elections in Serbia.

European Commissions officials have stated that the Kosovo situation will be looked at as a unique case, and will not be able to set a precedent for any other regions in Europe where similar tensions and problems exist.

Diplomatic sources from the EU stated that Ahtisaari was told that the EU supports the stance of the Contact Group and that Ahtisaari needs to present his full proposal for the Kosovo status solution as soon as possible to the UN Security Council.

Jiang: Ahtisaari won’t resign

UN Kosovo envoy’s spokeswoman Hua Jiang told FoNet that, despite Belgrade’s repeated calls on Ahtisaari to resign, he will do no such thing, as he enjoys the support and backing of the international community.

“We heard some comments from certain circles, but we received no official demand from the Serbian government”, Jiang told the agency.

“Ahtisaari received his mandate from the international community. The UN Secretary-General gave him his mandate. Ahtisaari’s work is supported in all international community statements, whether they come from the Contact Group, UN, OSCE, EU or NATO. Therefore, he has no reason to step down”, Jiang explained.

Causing instability to come with a price tag

Balkan Fund for Democracy executive director Ivan Vejvoda told B92 he believed the new Kosovo resolution most likely will not contain the term “independence”.

”Everything that we heard in the past couple of months clearly indicates that the resolution will strive to be clear and sustainable, as requested by the EU. The fact is there will be no UN chair and no army for Kosovo, therefore no foreign ministry”, Vejvoda says. “No one benefits from instability, neither the region, nor Russia or the U.S.”

“That means that everyone will consider their own future and interests, and behave responsibly. Anyone who causes instability will pay the price of lagging behind”, Vejvoda says.