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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Respect of international law to lead to viable, sustainable solutions

Vienna, 5 November 2007

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Serbian President Boris Tadic stated tonight in Vienna, following the fourth round of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, that the Pristina delegation is avoiding status talks by attempting to impose talks on post-status relations.

Vojislav Kostunica, left, and Boris Tadic at today's press conference

Author: Reuters

Kostunica told journalists that Belgrade pointed out to the defects of the proposal presented by the mediating troika, contained in 14 points, noting that the 14 points as they stand now point to a relation between two independent states, which is completely unacceptable for Serbia.

According to him, Belgrade handed over all supplements necessary for the 14 points to be aligned with UN SC Resolution 1244 and UN Charter.

We underlined that Resolution 1244 was left out, the Prime Minister said and added that this document affirms Serbian sovereignty over the province and speaks of autonomy but does not mention Kosovo independence.

Kostunica pointed out that the Serbian delegation insisted that there can be no unilateral acts mentioned lately either from Kosovo Albanians or international factors.

There was an attempt to find a solution through a form of confederation, which is the relation of two indepndent states and completely opposite of Serbia’s position and Resolution 1244, Kostunica said.

I think that once and for all we put away from the table such solution, the Prime Minister stressed noting that this proposal came from some Contact Group members and part of Kosovo Albanians.

According to him, the Serbian state negotiating team reiterated that essential autonomy is not only on paper but that it is something viable, giving the example of Hong Kong as a possible and viable model for the province.

Kostunica said that the mediating troika neglected the fact that the Albanian side is insisting that these are not status talks and that status is the only thing that cannot be discussed.

He recalled that status talks started in 2005, following a report of UN Secretary General’s special envoy in Kosovo Kai Eide, advising the launch of status negotiations due to the position of Serbs in the province.

No one can disregard that and claim that there can be no status talks, Kostunica stressed and reiterated that the mediating troika has not been so active in rejecting those claims.

He also wondered what the subject of talks is if someone claims that no compromise is possible and stressed that the troika should be more active and insisted that the theme of the talks is the province’s status.

Commenting on the statement of Kosovo Albanians that Serbia has not been present in the province for eight years, Kostunica said that the Serbian state negotiating team pointed out that China was not present in Hong Kong for decades but still a functional solution was found.

What is important in the Hong Kong model is the meaning, that if people want to agree, the agreement can function, Kostunica said and warned that the troika came up with a proposal at one point although it is not in troika’s mandate to offer a proposal. Tadic said that Belgrade has tried to offer talks on common foundations to Pristina and commented on the 14 points whereas the Pristina delegation avoided to discuss those proposals.

Unfortunately, we have not managed to come up with common foundation for talks with Pristina, Tadic said and pointed out that until the very last moment Belgrade will not give up and that Serbia believes that a sustainable solution to the benefit of Serbian citizens, both Serbs and Albanians, is possible, noting that such solution would stabilise the whole region.

He recalled that several more rounds of negotiations remained before December 10 and that Belgrade does not accept this date to be the last day of negotiations.

We think that the best solution would be European solution, without setting deadlines and with a lot of patience, the Serbian President said.

The two co-presidents of the Serbian state negotiating team stressed that Hong Kong was given as a good example that viable and sustainable solutions can be achieved through the respect of international law.