Ban, Solana support “plan B” for Kosovo

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is considering the implementation of “plan B” for Kosovo. The plan treats the status question in terms of creating more tangible European prospects for Serbia and the province, according to international diplomatic sources in Brussels. Ban, Solana support “plan B” for Kosovo Sources told the Beta news agency that such a solution had been discussed by Ban and EU Security and Foreign Policies Chief Javier Solana in New York yesterday. Solana said that it was important to start thinking early next year about the EU mission that would replace UNMIK in Kosovo. An international legal basis would be created in a declaration from the UN secretary general that would be based on analysis of several elements of Resolution 1244, enabling the presence of the EU mission, while retaining the KFOR peacekeeping mission in the province. According to diplomatic sources in Brussels, a mandate for EU and NATO representatives in Kosovo must be confirmed, a matter that the two organizations’ legal experts have been working on already. It must also be confirmed by EU and UN leaders that Serbia, the Kosovo Albanians, Russia and the United States are all willing to agree to such a solution. Solana met yesterday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the Kosovo issue, among other things. Belgian daily La Libre Belgique stated today that “Solana does not want the EU divided again over the Balkans, and wants all Europeans to accept the implementation of important policies and a police mission in Kosovo, regardless of whether or not it will become independent.” For this he would need a “wink” from the UN secretary general in New York, the Belgian daily states, adding that “the EU, replacing the UN in Kosovo, could consolidate Serbia and Kosovo’s European path by reducing the significance of borders.” The UN secretary general (Fonet, archive) Sarkozy: Recognition, at right moment French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today in Nice that his country would support Kosovo independence when it was, as he put it, “the right moment.” “We are for an independent Kosovo. We want it to happen at the right moment, at a point when no-one will feel humiliated,” said Sarkozy at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi at the end of a French-Italian summit in the south of France. The French president added that France felt that it was better “to allow a few more weeks for the situation to settle and to achieve results, rather than stop everything at midnight on December 10.” The mediating Troika report will be submitted on December 10 to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, after which a debate will be organized in the UN Security Council. Pristina representatives have announced that they will declare independence “very soon“ after December 10.

Ban, Solana support “plan B” for Kosovo

Sources told the Beta news agency that such a solution had been discussed by Ban and EU Security and Foreign Policies Chief Javier Solana in New York yesterday.

Solana said that it was important to start thinking early next year about the EU mission that would replace UNMIK in Kosovo. An international legal basis would be created in a declaration from the UN secretary general that would be based on analysis of several elements of Resolution 1244, enabling the presence of the EU mission, while retaining the KFOR peacekeeping mission in the province.

According to diplomatic sources in Brussels, a mandate for EU and NATO representatives in Kosovo must be confirmed, a matter that the two organizations’ legal experts have been working on already.

It must also be confirmed by EU and UN leaders that Serbia, the Kosovo Albanians, Russia and the United States are all willing to agree to such a solution.

Solana met yesterday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the Kosovo issue, among other things.

Belgian daily La Libre Belgique stated today that “Solana does not want the EU divided again over the Balkans, and wants all Europeans to accept the implementation of important policies and a police mission in Kosovo, regardless of whether or not it will become independent.”

For this he would need a “wink” from the UN secretary general in New York, the Belgian daily states, adding that “the EU, replacing the UN in Kosovo, could consolidate Serbia and Kosovo’s European path by reducing the significance of borders.”

Sarkozy: Recognition, at right moment

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today in Nice that his country would support Kosovo independence when it was, as he put it, “the right moment.”

“We are for an independent Kosovo. We want it to happen at the right moment, at a point when no-one will feel humiliated,” said Sarkozy at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi at the end of a French-Italian summit in the south of France.

The French president added that France felt that it was better “to allow a few more weeks for the situation to settle and to achieve results, rather than stop everything at midnight on December 10.”

The mediating Troika report will be submitted on December 10 to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, after which a debate will be organized in the UN Security Council.

Priština representatives have announced that they will declare independence “very soon“ after December 10.