No consensus reached on Kosovo in OSCE ministerial meeting

BELGRADE, Dec. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- No consensus was reached on Monday to adopt a statement on Kosovo at the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said reports reaching here from Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.

Some countries are opposed to mentioning the Helsinki Final Act in the Kosovo statement, which was advocated by Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, reported the Slovene Press Agency.

Addressing the press on the margins of Monday's plenary session, Draskovic said that Belgrade maintains that the Helsinki Final Act, which says that borders cannot be changed by force, must be included in any statement on Kosovo.

He alleged that some unspecified countries have viewed the mention of the Helsinki Final Act as a "barrier to the promotion of Kosovo independence."

Kosovo is a Serbian province under UN administration since mid-1999. Its future status is a bitter subject between Belgrade and Kosovo's Albanian majority who is demanding outright independence instead of maximum autonomy.

Draskovic reiterated Belgrade's view that the only possible compromise solution on Kosovo status would entail a status that is somewhere between autonomy and independence.

There can be no stability in the Western Balkans until there is political stability in Serbia and this cannot happen without a "normal compromise for Kosovo", Draskovic said.

He warned that independence in Kosovo could lead to other independence demands around Europe, such as in Macedonia, Spain, Turkey, the Nagorno-Karabakh and elsewhere.