Fourth round of direct talks in Vienna
The fourth round of direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina is taking place on November 5 in Vienna, with series of meetings which are widely seen as crucial for the Troika process.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, November 02, 2007
While Pristina will be led by its standard formation - President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku - Belgrade's delegation will not be on a ministerial level like in the two previous rounds but on the top state level as both President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will attend.
The mediating Troika is expected to present a new paper, which would include the parties' objections to the 14 working points it presented at the last round.
Belgrade has already presented its own 14 working points.
Its main objection was the lack of mention of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the need to resolve the issue in the Security Council. It sought to specify the nature of Kosovo's relationship with Serbia - as a province, not an independent actor - and to suggest possible Serbian competencies. The Serbian negotiations team also insisted on the fact that Kosovo's access to international financial institutions - while independent -- cannot be fully unrestrained due to Serbia's obligations as subject of international law, and that further European integration of the province should be made in cooperation with Belgrade.
Pristina is yet to present its objections, but in initial reactions, they were mostly dealing with a non-explicit mentioning of Kosovo's formal independence in the document. It feared the working points were stopping short of what it hoped for.
