Kosovo: Summer break or fresh talks?

Kosovo: Summer break or fresh talks?

“I am not certain they managed to overcome their differences,” Guangya said, and added that the best outcome would be for Belgrade and Priština to reach a compromise.

“If the two sides can reach agreement China will certainly support it, but as I understand it, their positions remain far apart. Therefore I wish to encourage them to continue and use the available time to negotiate in order to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution,” he said.

China took over the presidency at the United Nations Security Council on July 1.

Meanwhile, Serbian president and prime minister, Boris Tadić and Vojislav Koštunica both advocated continued talks over the province’s future status.

Koštunica said his cabinet would insist on a new negotiating process with a new international mediator in talks that must neither be limited nor conditioned.

Priština also seems to be aware that the ongoing process at the Security Council has reached a dead-end.

The solution that the province’s Prime Minister Agim Ceku suggested Tuesday – that of unilateral declaration of independence – has been toned down today.

Priština negotiating team spokesman Skender Hyseni said that a UN SC resolution would not automatically declare Kosovo an independent state.

“It must be a resolution that annuls 1244 and sanctions the new reality on the ground, allowing Kosovo to formally declare independence. No one in Kosovo believes that extremely unilateral behavior, without prior consultations with the United States and those that support us, would bring with it political gain or constitute for a politically wise move,” Hyseni said.

Kosovo issue to heat up in September

Goran Svilanović believes that Kosovo status talks will take a summer break and reconvene in September.

The Southeast Europe Stability Pact official said that U.S. President George Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin did not spend too much time discussing Kosovo over the weekend when they met in Maine. 

He told B92 that the essence of their discussion called for taking a breather and then continuing the talks between Russia and Europe.

Svilanović said that the Kosovo question will take a summer break and then be reassessed in the fall.

“A step ahead in solving the status of Kosovo will hardly be a step forward with the independence of Kosovo in relation to Serbia, or even in relation to the international protectorate. If that is the way it is, then a delay in the process is a victory for Belgrade, since nothing happened, there remains room for new ideas in the next several months to get the interest of the negotiators,” Svilanović said.

He added that the messages from Kosovo politicians saying that Kosovo Albanians are getting nervous and losing their patience over the status solution were troubling.

”It looks like someone in Kosovo is considering something that might be happening in the field. This concerns me.  It jeopardizes the security of everyone who lives in Kosovo—and the Serbs are at the greatest risk. It is obvious that Priština is nervous."

"There were also Bush’s statements in Tirana and Sofia that were very clear: wait, because this is the process that will eventually lead to unilateral recognition. That option is still alive,  but they are obviously looking for ways to avoid this and I think it would disturb Europe and all of us,” Svilanović said.

He also said that if there was no agreement between the U.S., EU and Russia, the United Nations Security Council could pass a resolution increasing the EU presence in Kosovo.