By Stefan Wagstyl and Frederick Studemann in London

 

Nov. 15, 2007

The European Union is preparing to take the lead next month in determining the future of Kosovo, amid fears that the United Nations-sponsored negotiations over the disputed territory will end in failure, according to Slovenia's prime minister.

Janez Jansa, whose country takes over the EU's rotating presidency in January, says the Union will endorse plans for Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to secure conditional independence from Serbia provided Pristina accepts international supervision and guarantees for its Serb minority.

The proposals amounted to an "upgrade" of plans prepared earlier this year by Martti Ahtisaari, the UN special envoy, Mr Jansa said in an FT interview. The Ahtisaari plan, which envisaged Kosovo's conditional independence, was accepted by Pristina but rejected by Belgrade, which insists that the UN-administered entity remains Serbian.

Mr Jansa said the EU plan would "most probably" envisage tougher limits on Kosovo's independence than proposed by Mr Ahtisaari. He declined to go into specifics, saying details had yet to be worked out.

But he brushed aside fears the EU might fail to reach agreement on a deal that lacked UN backing. "I believe that the proposal will be so complete that the EU council will be able to develop a common decision or at least that the main European powers will be united on it," he said.

His remarks come as the UN makes a last effort to push Belgrade and Pristina into an agreement before a December 10 deadline. If they fail to agree, a UN-backed deal will not materialise, as Russia has promised to block any plan rejected by Serbia.

Mr Jansa indicated the EU would be ready to move immediately after the December 10 deadline at its December 14 summit. His comments may not be welcomed by others involved in the Kosovo process who have mostly refrained from talking about the possibility of failure in the UN talks, for fear of undermining them.

Mr Jansa said there was "most probably" no agreement possible. "And because there is no solution that can be completely agreeable to both sides, I'm afraid there is no possibility of the UN Security Council taking a decision. This creates a situation which is complicated, in which the European Union has to take a lead, because this is the EU's neighbourhood. This is a household question in Europe, not in the Russian Federation or America."

Source: Financial Times 

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed