US ambassador changes tune: Now partition can be discussed

US ambassador changes tune: Now partition can be discussed

Delawie was taking part in in the Pristina-based KTV broadcaster's Rubikon show, and did not mention his country's red lines on a partition of Kosovo that he pronounced in December. He also said that US support for Kosovo's independence is "unshakable, and will continue."

Asked whether he was ruling out Kosovo's partition, Delawie replied:

"I am saying that I’m not going to talk about what an element of the final deal will be, I’m not going to talk about who I think should be leading this discussion in Brussels, and I’m not going to talk about ancillary details like what room it should be in or the shape of the table. Especially I think we are getting ahead of the discussion that really needs to take place here, and needs to have more participation from Kosovo’s political parties. Everybody needs to get in the game to talk about these things," he said.

"Kosovo needs to figure out what its goals are, it needs to try to achieve some kind of consensus on those goals, and that is what I am focusing on right now," Delawie also said.

Asked whether there should be red lines from the Kosovo side in the dialogue with Serbia, the US ambassador said:

"I don’t think it’s really helpful for me to talk too much about red lines, it's up to Kosovo to figure out what its goals are. I think Kosovo is facing a unique moment in its history when it can help determine what the future is going to be for Kosovo, for Kosovo's children, and to put aside the nervousness, the tension, the controversy that has characterized the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia these last several years. I think it’s important to focus on how to make the future better for all of Kosovo’s citizens, for Serbia’s citizens as well, and to find out a way to get to this normalization that we’ve been working on for a long time."

Fake news

Greg Delawie later took to Twitter to deny that he "spoke about partition."

"Ignore the fake news. Here's what I said, 'Kosovo needs to figure out what its goals are, it needs to try to achieve some kind of consensus on those goals, and that is what I am focusing on right now'."

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj also reacted, to say that Delawie's statement was "misinterpreted," and that "the possibility of talking about Kosovo's partition is one thing, while partition as an option is something else."