Serbia draws up new agenda for Kosovo talks

Serbia’s foreign minister is proposing an eight-point agenda for new talks on Kosovo that would be unlimited in time and without independence for the Serbian province as the pre-determined outcome.

That would shield them from the flaws that spoiled United Nations-sponsored consultations, which offered eventual independence to Kosovo, Vuc Jeremic said in Washington.

Serbia and its ally Russia have rejected the outcome and the US and Europe have agreed to another 120 days of discussion.

New deliberations under the Jeremic’s eight points could guarantee peace for the entire Balkan region, he said.

One of the eight points was “the broadest possible self-governance for the province’s Albanians”, with administration of its domestic affairs “totally unimpeded by Belgrade”. Ethnic Albanians vastly outnumber the province’s ethnic Serbs.

Jeremic proposed the formula in a talk at the National Press Club before meeting US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.

He spoke of the dedication to democracy of Serbia, “burdened by the legacy of being both a post-communist and a post-conflict society”, and its advances towards acceptance by Europe and transatlantic alliance Nato.

“Yet there is one thing that can make it all go away; one thing that can reverse the tremendous progress that has been made,” he said.

“The gains we as a country have made will likely be reversed if the imposition of the independence of Kosovo takes place.”

Rice has told Albanian Kosovar emissaries she plans to recognise the province’s independence shortly after completion of the 120 days’ negotiations.

Replying to questions after his speech, Jeremic said his main reason for coming to Washington was to “re-establish high-level dialogue between our governments. We have not been talking with each other very much lately”.

The eight “precepts” Jeremic says are necessary to ensure stability in the Balkans, historically one of the world’s most unstable and violent regions, are:

:: Consolidation of democracy in Serbia, “the pivot country in the region”. That would require avoiding “a potentially fatal setback” of imposed independence in Kosovo;

:: Speeded-up integration of the Western Balkans into Europe and the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Western Balkans;

:: Enforcement of internationally-recognised borders and the respect of the sovereign equality of states;

:: The broadest possible self-governance for Kosovo’s Albanians, with internationally-guaranteed administration of domestic affairs “totally unimpeded by Belgrade”;

:: The international guarantee of human and minority rights for all residents of Kosovo, with conditions created to allow the return to the province of more than 200,000 people displaced by violence, mainly ethnic Serbs;

:: Comprehensive efforts at reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians;

:: An international guarantee to safeguard Kosovo’s cultural and religious heritage, some of which is on the Unesco World Heritage list. Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority is Muslim, but the province has many sites important to Serbia’s Orthodox Christian majority;

:: An unconditional commitment to a lasting and secure peace.