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New stage of talks on Kosovo-Metohija will not end on December 10
Belgrade Sept 3,
3 September 2007
Serbian Minister of Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic stated yesterday that the new stage of talks on Kosovo-Metohija will not be concluded on December 10.
Slobodan Samardzic
In a statement to the Tanjug news agency, Samardzic said that if the talks take the course they should, it is quite certain that they will be continued even after December 10, and representatives of various western countries will have to realise that.
He stressed that this is a complex and complicated process which must last longer than that if a compromise solution can only be reached that way.
Samardzic said that the greatest problem is how to entice the Albanian delegation to sit down and talk since it is obvious that they came to Vienna with one proposal only, which is to change the main item on the agenda.
Namely, they propose that the talks should concern future relations between Serbia and Kosovo as two independent states and not the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, as dictated by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, said Samardzic.
We pointed out to the troika of envoys that this cannot pass and that the talks should strictly adhere to what Resolution 1244 prescribes and what we have been talking about so far, which is to state everyone’s, as well as our own view of the province’s future status, explained Samardzic.
We hope that the time prior to our meeting with the ethnic Albanian delegation in New York will be used to clearly define the basic topic of the talks and that western countries will in the meantime succeed in talking the Albanians into sitting down to negotiate and convincing them that this is the proper topic for discussion and that it must be debated, said Minister Samardzic.
According to Samardzic, Belgrade has enough ideas, some of which it put forward in Vienna, which was received well. However, the problem is not in Belgrade’s ideas, he added.
The problem is that Pristina has no ideas, that it is putting forward completely wrong topics which are not in Resolution 1244 and have not been mentioned until now, such as this illusory relationship between Kosovo and Serbia, explained Samardzic.
It is also important that western countries and their representatives refrain from any comments on the province’s future status until the talks are concluded.
We still hear the remnants of such speculation insinuating that Kosovo-Metohija will become independent and that Martti Ahtisaari’s plan will be the basis for resolving the province’s status, warned Minister Samardzic.
He stressed that this is a complex and complicated process which must last longer than that if a compromise solution can only be reached that way.
Samardzic said that the greatest problem is how to entice the Albanian delegation to sit down and talk since it is obvious that they came to Vienna with one proposal only, which is to change the main item on the agenda.
Namely, they propose that the talks should concern future relations between Serbia and Kosovo as two independent states and not the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, as dictated by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, said Samardzic.
We pointed out to the troika of envoys that this cannot pass and that the talks should strictly adhere to what Resolution 1244 prescribes and what we have been talking about so far, which is to state everyone’s, as well as our own view of the province’s future status, explained Samardzic.
We hope that the time prior to our meeting with the ethnic Albanian delegation in New York will be used to clearly define the basic topic of the talks and that western countries will in the meantime succeed in talking the Albanians into sitting down to negotiate and convincing them that this is the proper topic for discussion and that it must be debated, said Minister Samardzic.
According to Samardzic, Belgrade has enough ideas, some of which it put forward in Vienna, which was received well. However, the problem is not in Belgrade’s ideas, he added.
The problem is that Pristina has no ideas, that it is putting forward completely wrong topics which are not in Resolution 1244 and have not been mentioned until now, such as this illusory relationship between Kosovo and Serbia, explained Samardzic.
It is also important that western countries and their representatives refrain from any comments on the province’s future status until the talks are concluded.
We still hear the remnants of such speculation insinuating that Kosovo-Metohija will become independent and that Martti Ahtisaari’s plan will be the basis for resolving the province’s status, warned Minister Samardzic.
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