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Talks on Kosovo-Metohija future status continue in Baden

Belgrade/Baden, 27 November 2007

The final round of talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija continued today in Baden near Vienna with the mediation of the Contact Group’s troika.

Author: Fonet

At the beginning of the second day of talks between representatives of the Serbian state negotiating team and representatives of Kosovo Albanians, Serbia’s stances were presented by President Boris Tadic who warned that unilateral declaration of independence would lead to destabilisation and encourage symmetrical behaviour since neither side holds monopoly on unilateralism.

Tadic once again called for compromise on the Kosovo-Metohija status issue.

Serbia has offered many ideas, recalled Tadic and stressed that Belgrade is ready to consider all aspects of the proposals it offered.

We are ready to take into consideration any other idea that may lead to compromise, emphasised Tadic and called upon the delegation of Kosovo Albanians and the international community to seriously consider Serbia’s proposal.

We must stop feeding illusions if we want to build a safe future in the region, said Tadic and added that the framework offered by Belgrade will lead to a mutually acceptable solution.

The elements of a compromise solution for the status of Kosovo are simple since Serbia offers to Kosovo many powers and symbols normally reserved for sovereign states only. Kosovo would have full self-government and access to all international political, economical and other organisations, except for the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe. The province would have its commercial and cultural representative offices abroad, its anthem, flag, and its sport teams.

Also, relations with Serbia would be normalised, which would increase chances for Kosovo's stability and development, the Serbian President said and underlined that Kosovo's integration into the network of official regional relations and relations with Serbia would speed up its integration into Europe.

Tadic explained that such solutions would improve relations between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs and remove present and future barriers between communities, while Serbia would keep jurisdiction only in the domain of foreign policy, border control and protection of Serbian heritage.

According to him, Belgrade and Pristina would conclude agreements for protection of rights of ethnic communities, while in case of Serbs their relation with Belgrade institutions would be secured.

Tadic reiterated that he does not agree with remarks that Belgrade and Pristina cannot reach an agreement and said that such kind of propaganda aims to impose the solution for the future status of Kosovo.

There are many ways to find a solution, there are many formulas for that and we can reach an agreement.

At the same time, the Serbian President said that in many claims made in the previous two years wishes are mixed with suppositions.

There were claims that Kosovo was multiethnic, but any objective evaluation shows that in southern Serbian province minorities live in ghettos, Tadic said and recalled that 200,000 Serbs have left Kosovo-Metohija since 1999.

Those who want to see multiethnicity should come to central Serbia, Tadic said an added that in the past eight years Kosovo has become a deeply segregated society, in which there is no interaction between different communities.

The joint meeting began at 9:30 am and will last until noon as planned.

From 3 pm to 4 pm, the troika will meet with a delegation of the Serbian negotiating team, and from 4 pm to 5 pm with a delegation of Kosovo Albanians.