Clinton, Ashton meet with Kosovo officials

Source: B92, Tanjug

PRIŠTINA -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton met with Hashim Thaci on Wednesday.

Hillary Clinton, Atifete Jahjaga and Catherine Ashton (Tanjug/AP)

Before their meeting with the Kosovo PM, Clinton and Ashton met with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga.
According to announcements, they will also meet with leaders of political parties in Kosovo.

Clinton and Ashton arrived in Priština on Tuesday night, after their short visit to Belgrade. They were welcomed by Jahjaga and EU Special Envoy in Kosovo Samuel Žbogar at Priština airport.

Clinton, Ashton and Thaci are expected to hold a joint press conference after the meeting.

Priština-based Albanian language daily Koha Ditore’s Editor Agron Bajrami told B92 Radio that he expected that messages similar to those heard in Belgrade would be heard in Kosovo.

“Since we are at the beginning of the dialogue on the political level, I think general messages that have already been heard in Belgrade can be expected, that Kosovo’s integrity will not be a topic of the talks, that Kosovo’s independence is a done deal as far as the U.S. is concerned and that it cannot be negotiated but they will have to negotiate other things that should lead to better relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The north is among those things,” he said and added that he believed that the north of the province would be discussed in the end of the negotiating process.

On the other hand, certain Kosovo Albanian analysts believe that the visit is aimed at exerting pressure on Priština to give up on the north and grant this part a special status. They have warned that the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština would be meaningless if Kosovo was not accepted in the UN and if it was not recognized by all EU member states in the end.

Priština-based Albanian language daily Zeri has quoted analyst Behgjet Shala as saying that “Priština is not in a position to request anything”.

“This visit has only one goal, to ask Kosovo to give up on the north and for the northern part to get a special status,” Shala said.