Feuer Frei!
03-07-11, 09:13 AM
SERBIA and Kosovo begin EU-brokered talks today, the first high level direct meetings since Pristina broke away in 2008, with Belgrade seeing an opportunity for an "historic reconciliation." However Serbia has made its clear that the talks will only tackle practical problems like trade agreements, customs issues and property records and stressed it would never recognize Pristina's declaration of independence.
"This is an opportunity for an historic reconciliation between Serbs and (Kosovo) Albanians and neither Belgrade nor Pristina should pass it up," Goran Bogdanovic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo, said last week.
The Serbian authorities are keen to show their willingness to enter talks in the hope that it will speed up their path to European Union membership but remain firm that recognition of Kosovo's independence is a bridge too far.
"For us Kosovo is Serbia," chief negotiator Bogdan Stefanovic told AFP, echoing a favourite nationalist slogan often seen in graffiti here.
So far Kosovo is recognised by 75 states including the US and a majority of European Union countries.
Even with recognition off the table, there is plenty to talk about at the session in Brussels.
The status quo leads to strange situations in Kosovo where for example the mobile phones in the Albanian majority part operate with Monaco and Slovenian country codes while Pristina is still a local call from Belgrade on a landline.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in press interviews today that she hoped the talks would help bring both Pristina and Belgrade closer to the EU.
"I want the dialogue to help in removing obstacles to free movement of property and goods," she told Kosovo's Koha Ditore daily.
In Pristina there is not much enthusiasm for the talks.
FULL ARTICLE HERE (http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/serbia-eyes-historic-reconciliation-with-kosovo/story-e6frfku0-1226017347477)
"This is an opportunity for an historic reconciliation between Serbs and (Kosovo) Albanians and neither Belgrade nor Pristina should pass it up," Goran Bogdanovic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo, said last week.
The Serbian authorities are keen to show their willingness to enter talks in the hope that it will speed up their path to European Union membership but remain firm that recognition of Kosovo's independence is a bridge too far.
"For us Kosovo is Serbia," chief negotiator Bogdan Stefanovic told AFP, echoing a favourite nationalist slogan often seen in graffiti here.
So far Kosovo is recognised by 75 states including the US and a majority of European Union countries.
Even with recognition off the table, there is plenty to talk about at the session in Brussels.
The status quo leads to strange situations in Kosovo where for example the mobile phones in the Albanian majority part operate with Monaco and Slovenian country codes while Pristina is still a local call from Belgrade on a landline.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in press interviews today that she hoped the talks would help bring both Pristina and Belgrade closer to the EU.
"I want the dialogue to help in removing obstacles to free movement of property and goods," she told Kosovo's Koha Ditore daily.
In Pristina there is not much enthusiasm for the talks.
FULL ARTICLE HERE (http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/serbia-eyes-historic-reconciliation-with-kosovo/story-e6frfku0-1226017347477)