Serbia tells Troika talks should continue

The Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Slobodan Samardzic and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that the Troika's report would be very important, but would still be just one phase in the negotiations.

Minister Samardzic said no one should expect the Troika's report to contain recommendations and evaluations, but only concrete facts, which was very important for the Serbian side, as it had presented several concrete proposals during the talks.

"We believe that the negotiating process will not be finished with the Troika's report. It is a very important phase, and what has been said from the very beginning is that this phase was much more successful than the first one, run by Martti Ahtisaari," Samardzic said.

Jeremic said that the debate on Kosovo would now continue in the U.N. Security Council.

"Any kind of change of status and international presence in the province must be secured by a decision from the U.N.," Jeremic said, and called on all in the international community not to encourage anyone to take unilateral steps, because that could leave severe consequences.

The members of the troika said that the report would end their mandate, but voiced different ideas on how the process would unravel from now on.

U.S. envoy in the troika Frank Wisner said that after the report was submitted, "it is a matter for governments to take over and proceed," while Russian representative Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said that the U.N. Security Council was to decide on the status of Kosovo.

The EU's representative in the troika, Wolfgang Ischinger, said that the presentation of the report and the end of the troika's mandate on Dec. 10 "does not necessarily mean the talks on Kosovo's future will not be held in other forums and other places."

Troika's report will state that Belgrade and Pristina were unable to reach a compromise solution.

"We are not making any (status) proposals that could surprise anyone," Ischinger said.

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