Kosovo negotiating team fails to agree on final plan for 4 May Vienna meeting

Text of report by Fatmir Aliu entitled "Unity team did not complete platform for Vienna yet" published by the Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 27 April

Prishtina [Pristina], 26 April: The Kosova [Kosovo] delegation that will attend the status talks said that there are no conditions for Kosova's independence and sovereignty. However, it added that the conditions for the Serb minority in an integrated Kosova will be created. Regarding an independent and sovereign Kosova, the Kosovar delegation in the status process said that the necessary conditions should be created for a peaceful and safe life for all its citizens, especially for the Serb minority.

One of the members of the Political Group of Kosova in the status talks said that an independent and sovereign Kosova should create conditions for a better life for all its citizens, regardless of their ethnic background.

"One thing must be clear: none of the offered conditions are being offered as compensation or a reward for Kosova's sovereignty. As for the current positions of one or the other party, they can evolve and we are certain that they will evolve. It is of great importance to eliminate the uncertainties for the Serb community, namely to bring the Serb community in Kosova down to earth," Skender Hyseni assessed.

But the Kosovars' position on status is not an issue that will be discussed at the next meeting in Vienna on 4 May. Skender Hyseni, a member of the Kosova delegation, said that the creation of conditions for the Serb minority and its integration into society is a plan about which there is nothing final yet.

At the Wednesday [26 April] meeting of the negotiation team in the status process, the final decision on which will be the plan that is presented in Vienna has not been made yet. According to Hyseni, many things are also changing in Kosovars' planning from one hour to the next. However, Hyseni ruled out any possibility of international pressure being the cause of these frequent changes.

In principle, Hyseni said, the team of unity has not managed to harmonize the positions on paper on the priority issues of defining new municipalities and the number of residents that a new municipality should have. According to him, these issues will be clarified in Vienna, while all the conclusions that emerge from this context must not touch or abridge the territorial integrity of Kosova.

"The Kosovar plan is based on a unitary and integrated Kosova, with equal rights for all its citizens. A unitary Kosova means that its central institutions should have the possibility to exercise full authority throughout the territory and its entire constitutional dimension," he asserted.

The delegation of Prishtina will discuss its presentation in Vienna for two days next week, when the issue of the creation of new municipalities in Kosova will be discussed. The fourth meeting between the Prishtina-Belgrade delegations in Vienna will continue to address the issue of decentralization, after a difficult round of talks held a month ago and serious clashes between Belgrade and international mediator Martti Ahtisaari [UN special envoy for Kosovo status talks] over a decentralization plan proposed by the latter.

International officials said that this time, the Vienna meeting will be held over two days and that they are making preparations for the fifth meeting, expected to be held sometime during the second half of May, which will deal with economic issues, cultural heritage and its protection.

Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 27 Apr 06