cision,” expressing hope that soon the “international community will recognize us Washington, Britain and other states.” After the Dec. 19 Security Council debate, the U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, declared the views of the two sides “irreconcilable,” and said it was time for an independent Kosovo - a position backed by Britain, France and most members of the European Union. On Wednesday, Khalilzad said: “We know where we are heading. There is no change with regard to the fact that the council is blocked.” Britain’s UN ambassador, John Sawers, agreed that “nothing’s changed.” “I don’t think there’s any prospect of further negotiations, so we need to plan ahead, and the European Union’s made clear its approach,” he said. “There will be a further discussion among EU foreign ministers on Saturday evening.” The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, countered that the future of Kosovo was a Security Council issue - not an EU issue - and said council members should prepare a roadmap that would “create dynamics that in our view would lead to a negotiated outcome.” “We are respectful of the interest of the European Union to enhance its role in Kosovo, but that should not replace an international effort to find a mutually acceptable solution,” Churkin said. He made clear that Russia, which has veto power in the Security Council, would block any attempt by an independent Kosovo to become a member of the United Nations. “Going down the way of unilateral moves, Kosovo is not going to join the ranks of fully recognized members of the international community,” he said. “It may get some recognitions, regrettably,” but “it’s not going to come to this building as full-fledged member of the international community. It’s not going to be able to join other political international institutions.” President Vladimir Putin of Russia, in an article published in Bulgarian newspapers Thursday ahead of his visit there, said, “Here, our position is crystal-clear: Any solution for Kosovo must be approved by both parties.” “It is equally clear that any solution for Kosovo must be in keeping with international precedent and practice,” he said in the Kremlin-provided text provided to Bulgarian media. While Russia and Serbia contend that any action outside the council would be illegal, Sawers and Khalilzad insist that the 1999 UN resolution providing for Kosovo to be administered by the United Nations and NATO troops also contains the legal basis to move ahead with independence.
The United States and Europeans insist that the issue of Kosovo’s future status is unique and would not set a precedent for other separatist groups, as Russia and Serbia claim. Russia’s Churkin said he told the council that, “legally speaking, any unilateral declaration of independence by Pristina should be declared null and void by the head of the UN mission there” because it violates the 1999 UN resolution and the UN Charter. Tadic stressed that “Serbia will never recognize Kosovo’s independence and will preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty by all democratic means, legal arguments and diplomacy.” He reiterated that “Serbia will not resort to violence and war.” Despite the disagreement over Kosovo’s future status, Khalilzad said the United States and the Europeans wanted to strengthen relations with Serbia.
GERMANY AND SERBIA HOPE FOR SWIFT DEAL ON EU TRADE PACT BY: DW STAFF (JG), PUBLISHED: 11TH JANUARY 2008 he foreign ministers of Germany and Serbia said that they were hoping that the Balkan nation would soon be able to sign up to a key aid and trade pact with the European Union. Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic said that his country had already fulfilled the EU’s conditions for the agreement, which is seen as the first formal step on the road to EU membership. “We very much hope this is going to become the reality come January 28, and if not January 28 at the next earliest opportunity,” said Jeremic on Thursday, Jan. 10. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also agreed that the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on that date was the ideal time for signing the
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Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Agreement rests on co-operation with The Hague But he said the go-ahead depended on full cooperation by Belgrade with the UN war crimes tribunal based in The Hague. He suggested that the new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, Serge Brammertz, visit Serbia before a decision is taken. Jeremic said Belgrade would do everything possible to ensure that war criminals, most eminently ex-General Ratko Mladic, are handed over to the tribunal. Mladic, who is accused of masterminding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed, is believed to be hiding out in Serbia. Germany says the pact is in Europe’s interest Steinmeier said Europe had a strong interest in seeing “that the democratic and European path taken by Serbia remains the path for the future of this country.” Differences over the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo were not bridged at the talks. Steinmeier said the recent talks to resolve the status issue had ended in failure, but Jeremic said they had achieved progress and called for more time to reach a negotiated settlement. The EU and the United Nations want Kosovo to assume a supervised form of statehood, but Serbia, supported by Russia, only wants to grant more autonomy to the province, which is mainly inhabited by ethnic Albanians. Kosovo has threatened to declare independence unilaterally.
KOSOVO PM AGREES INDEPENDENCE DATE BY: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, PUBLISHED: 23RD JANUARY 2008 Ethnic Albanian leaders and Western governments have agreed on a date for Kosovo to declare independence from Serbia, the province’s prime minister said. CorD / February 2008 59