Talks held in “difficult atmosphere”

Source: Beta, Tanjug

BRUSSELS -- The current round of the Belgrade-Priština talks ended around midnight and will be continued on Friday.

Borislav Stefanović and Edita Tahiri (Tanjug, file)

The two teams still have not reached an agreement on Kosovo’s regional representation.
Belgrade team chief Borislav Stefanović told Tanjug that the Thursday’s talks were held in a “difficult atmosphere” caused by the Priština delegation.

“Priština took negative, rebuffing stances which were completely irrational at times. We are trying to find a solution in a constructive and rational manner, of course while sticking to the (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244,” he explained.

The Belgrade lead negotiator stressed that his team was still prepared to do everything in order to come closer to a solution in the continuation of the talks on Friday morning.

“There was a partial convergence of stances today in the sense of definition of a footnote that will be written next to Kosovo’s name. This is still the biggest point of contention,” he noted.

He assessed that reaching of the agreement on Friday largely depended on whether or not Priština would realize that the international circumstances had changed when it came to fulfillment of their requests.

“Another day of talks awaits us tomorrow and we hope it won’t be long,” Stefanović said late on Thursday.

The latest round of the Belgrade-Priština talks started on Wednesday and it was continued on Thursday.

A decision on Serbia’s EU candidate status in March greatly depends on the outcome of the talks.