KOSOVO: Agreement with Serbia has not failed yet says Prime Minister

Record ID: 848833

  • Title: KOSOVO: Agreement with Serbia has not failed yet says Prime Minister
  • Date: 3rd April 2013
  • Summary: PRISTINA, KOSOVO (APRIL 3, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KOSOVO GOVERNMENT BUILDING PLAQUE READING " GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO" KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER HASHIM THACI ARRIVING AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "I want to emphasise that despite the current difficulties we can't announce the process as closed or failed. We hope that Serbia will reflect and accept the reality and agreement." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "There will not be any executive, legislative competencies or third powers (for the Serbs in the north)." JOURNALISTS ASKING QUESTIONS (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "I want to emphasise that Kosovo's position is in full compliance with the European Union and the United States of America. Therefore, Pristina's response (to the agreement) was ready on the 4th of March and it's ready today. The Belgrade authorities asked for more consulting time and it is up to them whether they will accept the document or not." PHOTOGRAPHER (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "Kosovo's and my position is focused toward the future and on the end of the confrontation chapter." (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "Firstly, they (Serbia) intended to partition Kosovo, this has been closed once and for all on July 25th, 2011 (Kosovo's independence supervision ends). They were aiming to create another Republika Srpska (Bosnia) which also is unrealisable, they wanted to get an autonomy or special status (for northern Kosovo) which can't be done either, they themselves say in closed meetings that a solution should be found as they know that Kosovo is an independent sovereign state." MEDIA THACI LEAVES
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kosovo
  • City:
  • Country: Kosovo
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE4O71JEHFSYL75XFRREYOSZPE
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The agreement with Serbia has not failed yet as Serbia has still time to change its mind, said Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on Wednesday (April 3) after returning from a meeting with his Serbian counterpart in Brussels.
    EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been mediating months of talks between Serbia and Kosovo, said the gap between the two sides was "very narrow, but deep" after a marathon 12-hour session.
    "I want to emphasise that despite the current difficulties we can't announce the process as closed or failed. We hope that Serbia will reflect and accept the reality and agreement," Thaci told reporters.
    Serbia said on Wednesday it faced tough decisions in the days ahead as the Balkan country weighs how far to give ground on its former Kosovo province in return for coveted talks on membership of the European Union.
    "There will not be any executive, legislative competencies or third powers (for the Serbs in the north)," said Thaci.
    Catherine Ashton said the Brussels meeting, the eighth between the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, was the last time all sides would meet formally with EU mediation. The talks have been aimed at "normalising ties" five years after Kosovo declared independence with the backing of the West.
    "I want to emphasise that Kosovo's position is in full compliance with the European Union and the United States of America. Therefore, Pristina's response (to the agreement) was ready on the 4th of March and it's ready today. The Belgrade authorities asked for more consulting time and it is up to them whether they will accept the document or not," added Thaci.
    Ashton will issue a progress report in mid-April, which will form the basis of an EU decision in June whether to launch membership talks with Serbia - a crucial stimulus for reform and signal of stability for investors looking to the biggest economy in the former Yugoslavia.
    "Kosovo's and my position is focused toward the future and on the end of the confrontation chapter," Thaci said.
    Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO went to war to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians during a brutal Serbian counter-insurgency campaign in what was then a Serbian province.
    Serbia does not recognise the secession, but is under pressure from the West to establish functional relations with Kosovo and loosen its grip on a northern, Serb-populated pocket of the young country.
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