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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Serbia expects continuation of negotiations on future status of Kosovo

Belgrade, 12 March 2007

Coordinator of the state negotiating team on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic said that there is an outside chance that the UN Security Council will examine the proposal of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari since that document is not a result of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina and it violates basic UN principles.

Slobodan Samardzic

Samardzic told Tanjug news agency that Ahtisaari will submit his proposal to the UN Security Council and that a big discussion will take place among the participants, which will last until the moment it is understood that a decision cannot be made.

That is when we expect that some other people will be tasked with conducting the negotiations, in a fair way, and that will be a chance to come to a compromise solution for Kosovo-Metohija, Samardzic said.

The negotiations led by Ahtisaari did not yield any result because he did not make the slightest effort to motivate the two sides to reach a compromise, and in this case it was the Albanian side. He had not done that during the entire course of negotiations and in the end, he made a document that was not the result of the negotiations, but rather of some concepts and political orientations of his team, Samardzic said.

The proof of that is that out of 13 parts of the document - the introductory part on the principles and 12 annexes, as many as 6 annexes were not discussed during the negotiations at all. Samardzic added that Ahtisaari's proposal is utterly unacceptable for Belgrade.

Coordinator of the state negotiating team Leon Kojen voiced hope that negotiations on the future status of Kosovo will soon be continued.

He said that permanent members of the UN Security Council have different opinions on the solution of the Kosovo status and if an agreement is not reached within the UN Security Council, it is natural that negotiations will be continued.

He stated that the final evaluation of the work of the state negotiating team will be given by Serbian parliament, which will soon receive a report on Vienna negotiations.

Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Vladeta Jankovic told the Tanjug news agency that it is incorrect to think that the termination of Vienna negotiations is the end of the entire process. That is only the termination of one phase of the process of finding a solution for Kosovo.

Martti Ahtisaari said that he would submit his proposal to the UN Secretary-General by the end of the month. That means that he will work on the final version for some more time and the supposition is that he will take into account what has been said during the negotiations, Jankovic said.

He explained that the UN Security Council will first try to make a new resolution that would substitute the existing Resolution 1244, adding that it is a big question whether that will succeed.

In the meantime, Belgrade will have a wide space for the diplomatic activity and for the lobbying. We have an obligation to use all the opportunities, as we have done so far, Jankovic concluded.