Another round of Kosovo talks ends without agreement

 B92, Tanjug

BRUSSELS -- Wednesday's negotiations between the delegations of Priština and Belgrade, under the mediation of the European Union, have ended in Brussels.

(EU)

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci first addressed reporters to say that "Serbia rejected the proposal."

According to Tanjug, he added that "Serbia might change its mind in the coming days."

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić then addressed journalists to say that during today's negotiations - which lasted almost 14 hours - Thaci attempted to impose the topic of Kosovo's membership in international institutions.

However, our reporter in Brussels says that both he and Thaci noted that "a solution can be found."

Dačić explained that the membership of Kosovo in international organizations was not a subject of today's talks, but that Thaci attempted to set that as a condition for the resolution of the topics concerning police and judicial powers that should be given to a future community of Serb municipalities.

According to Dačić, "Belgrade was ready to accept an agreement on jurisdictions for the community of Serb municipalities, but Thaci undermined it by linking this to the problem of membership in international organizations, including the United Nations - which our delegation could not accept."

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in early 2008 unilaterally proclaimed independence, which Serbia rejected as illegal. The EU sponsored talks have been ongoing in a number of rounds since March 2011, with most recent ones focusing on northern Kosovo, where Serbs are the majority population and reject the authority of the government in Priština.

Speaking shortly after midnight on Thursday, Dačić also told reporters that Thaci's interpretation of the outcome of Wednesday's round - that Serbia rejected the agreement - was "utterly unfair."

The Serbian prime minister added that the Belgrade delegation was ready to continue negotiations until all issues have been resolved.

Thaci, on the other hand, said that EU's Catherine Ashton "rejected all suggestions tabled by Serbia", that there was no desire to go back to negotiations "such as Rambouillet", and that, "in 2013, solutions cannot be sought with the head of Vojislav Šešelj."

President Tomislav Nikolić's adviser Marko Đurić spoke for Tanjug to say that negotiations could continue but that no date has been determined.

He accused Thaci of obstructing the talks on Wednesday concerning "the already suggested formulations of EU's high representative Catherine Ashton, which regarded the issues of police".

Đurić also said that Thaci engaged "in open threats of violence."

"Belgrade is ready to talk, but not using the logic of terrorists," Đurić concluded.