British FM in Belgrade: Without rapprochement of stances on Kosovo

Heads of Diplomacy of Serbia and Great Britain, Vuk Jeremic and William Hague respectively, have stated after their meeting in Belgrade yesterday there has been no rapprochement of stances on how to solve the issue of Kosovo, but they have noted that the talks will be continued.

Jeremic has emphasized that for the Serbian Government the withdrawal of the resolution sent to the UN General Assembly is not an option, but he added that the Belgrade authorities are ready to consult all relevant international factors, including the EU, in order to attain the widest possible support for the resolution.

Hague has stated that he believes the withdrawal of the current draft of the document and sending the new one would be the easiest way to reach a compromise. He added that the official Belgrade should certainly harmonize the text with the EU.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said that Serbia is ready for a compromise regarding the draft resolution on Kosovo, submitted to the UN General Assembly, in order to make the document acceptable for both the Belgrade authorities and the international community.

As daily Blic learns, the discussion over change of the text of Serbian resolution has not been scheduled yet and as daily learn from well informed diplomatic sources in Belgrade it may happen that the meeting does not take place at all if no agreement over what should be changed is reached prior to it.

At the moment Belgrade seems to be ready only to leave out the last paragraph requesting further debate over Kosovo at the UN, but does not want to change the introductory part which stipulates that ‘unilateral secession' is unacceptable manner for settlement of problems.

‘Support by over 30 countries that shall vote for the Serbian resolution at the UN General Assembly has been lobbied based on that sentence and Belgrade certainly cannot leave it out', ‘Blic' source from diplomatic circles says.

Tadic has stressed after meeting with Hague, that the only excluded option is a compromise in view of recognizing the independence of Kosovo. While conveying to Haig that Serbia is counting with assistance of the EU in solving the problem of Kosovo, the President has emphasized that the only way to reach a solution is through dialog of Belgrade and Pristina.
In an interview with the Belgrade B92 Television British Foreign Minister pointed out once again that the ‘easiest way that Serbia makes a compromise would be to withdraw its resolution'. ‘It would not be good for Serbia to experience defeat at voting at the General Assembly. The situation, when the EU is concerned, would not be better if the Serbian resolution would get majority in New York', Hague said.