Wisner: Serbian elections won’t postpone solution

Wisner: Serbian elections won’t postpone solution

”We are almost at the end of the road reaching a decision to fundamentally influence Kosovo’s future. We are standing on the threshold of a period that will produce the final status”, Wisner said in Priština.

As for the influence events in Serbia proper may have, ambassador Wisner said it was presently unclear what will happen in Serbia, in relation to the elections.

“It seems there’s no consensus in Serbia yet and I will not speculate on what may happen in the elections. I know that the Serbian government plans to hold a constitutional referendum and I know that some of the Kosovo Serbs will vote. That is within their rights”.

After a separate meeting with Kosovo’s prime minister Agim Ceku, Wisner said that without a clear status for Kosovo, the long-term, productive relations between Kosovo and Serbia will not be possible.

“We need clarity to build that. I believe both nations will benefit from strong bilateral ties”.

Speculation on negotiations

Earlier today, analysts were guessing that Wisner had come to talk about postponing the finalization of the status process in light of the Serbian referendum and elections. Wisner held a meeting with international officials in Kosovo, which was closed to the public.

In light of Wisner’s visit, Priština negotiating team, according to spokesperson Skender Hiseni, talked about the postponement of the Kosovo solution for next year.

Hiseni said that the team is still looking at the situation as if the Kosovo status solution will be found by the end of this year, adding that the Kosovo team supports this deadline.

“We do not wish to determine things ahead of time, nor do we want to give any signals that might show that we agree with the changing of the deadline. However, it is certain that the discussion team has back-up plans for the development of this situation, but now is not the time to deal with predictions.” Hiseni said.

UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s office said that he will be meeting with Contact Group officials in November to hear their ideas and suggestions for the final status solution.

According to the BBC, Ahtisaari will give a proposal for the final status solution shortly after this meeting.