Ahtisaari postpones Vienna talks for February 21

Ahtisaari postpones Vienna talks for February 21

Ahtisaari said in New York, after talking to UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon, that he had not yet received any official request from Belgrade about the delay of the talks, but confirmed that he would hear from Belgrade soon.

“I hear that Belgrade needs some time to complete post-electoral procedures and elect the new negotiating team. I may grant a delay of seven to ten days, but still plan to conclude the proposal by the end of March and present it to the UN Security Council. I am willing to include compromise solutions agreed on between Belgrade and Priština and allow both sides to restate their positions”, Ahtisaari said.

Ahtisaari will inform EU foreign ministers of his plans for the future.

UN Deputy Special Envoy Albert Rohan confirmed today in Priština that the Kosovo talks were indeed postponed until February 21.

“We want to see Serbian delegation in Vienna for the talks and thus gave them a chance to consolidate”, Rohan said adding that President Tadić guaranteed that the Serbia delegation will show up in Vienna.

Rohan said that final consultations should end in March. Ahtisaari’s plan will then be finalized and sent off to the UN Security Council.

Martti Ahtisaari’ spokesperson Remi Dourlot assured B92 that the delay was genuine.

“Despite the postponement, we will stick to our timetable and try to conclude this phase of the talks by the beginning of March so as to hand over the final version of the plan to the UN SC”, Dourlot said.

Serbian Parliament to convene on Monday

Ministry of Commerce Predrag Bubalo said at a press conference that the new Parliament would soon congregate. B92 has learned that the first parliamentary session will be held on Monday.

“The negotiating team will prepare a resolution and put it before the Government. The Government will then forward the document to the new Parliament for discussion, the addition of possible amendments and adoption. The Parliament will either renew the mandate of the current negotiation team, or elect new members”, Bubalo said.

The negotiating team will not undergo changes until the new government is formed, according to B92 sources.

“Serbia to reject the plan as it is”

The daily Večerje novosti quoted Sandra Raškovic-Ivić, Chairwoman of Kosovo Coordinating Center, as saying "Belgrade negotiating team should travel to Vienna and directly inform Marti Ahtisaari Serbia rejects his plan".

“We need to reject the plan as it is. The opening sentence of the plan should read that Serbia’s borders are inviolable, in which case we will be willing do discuss the rest”, Rašković-Ivić concluded.