Prospects for a breakthrough face-to-face meeting between the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo remain faint, dashing hopes for a resolution of Kosovo's political status.
Hopes had grown recently that rival leaders, Vojislav Kostunica of Serbia and Bajram Kosumi of Kosovo, would agree to a first historic meeting to resolve the impasse between the two sides.
Kosumi wants independence for Kosovo. Kostunica, in turn, insists Kosovo remains within Serbian borders. Now, the possibility of a meeting looks bleak as neither side can agree on its terms.
The Serb leader issued last week a formal invitation to meet Kosumi as long as he was not forced to recognize Kosovo as an independent country. The meeting was proposed for May 25 in Prizren, a town in Kosovo. Kosumi, though, declined saying that he would not meet in Prizren on that date. However, he did say he was willing to meet Kostunica at a pre-agreed time and location.
The Kosovan leader repeated his invitation in an exclusive interview with Emerging Markets yesterday. "I invite Mr Kostunica to come to my office in Pristina, I can go to Belgrade or to a third country. I think it is very important for both sides. We have problems, therefore we should talk and solve them."
"Kosovo's and Serbia's economy are suffering because of our unsolved problems," Kosumi added. "In Kosovo things are more difficult. There is no significant foreign investment as the investors are not clear about the final status of Kosovo."
Kosumi said that he was prepared to meet without any conditions, saying: "We have to meet as two prime ministers and resolve all problems that our two countries face and prepare the road for two normal countries to live in peace."
However, Slobodan Samardzic, political adviser to Kostunica, dismissed Kosumi's comments. "We don't respond to invitations issued through newspapers," he said curtly. Instead he stressed Serbia's own initiative for talks. "Kosumi has never replied directly to us, he has only made announcements," he said. "Therefore until we hear from him, our invitation still stands."
Samardzic also rejected Kosumi's claims that he was offering unconditional talks. "He cannot simulate a country [ie imply that Kosovo is an independent country]. By asking for a meeting between the leaders of two countries, he is demanding that Serbia recognizes Kosovo's independence in advance. We recognize him as the prime minister of Kosovo, the head of the provision institutions under interim UN administration."
Samardzic also repeated the Serbian position that any talks cannot include any mention of the status of Kosovo before "fulfillment of standards. That means rule of law, return of [Serb] refugees, and freedom of movement. So far less than 1% of Serbs have returned [to Kosovo]."
Responding to an announcement by Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state on May 18 that would see greater US participation in the process, Kosumi said: "The good thing is that this plan now does recognize the need to solve the final status within a year.
"Another good side of it is the recognition of the Contact Group [comprising the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Russia] decision: Kosovo's borders shall not change; there will be no partition and no union with any neighboring countries. You see, here we have only one road open: that is independence."
Samardzic also welcomed Burns's comments, but with a different interpretation. "He rightly stressed that the final status has to be agreed between Belgrade and Pristina. We are also against any change of borders in the region. That means that Kosovo cannot become independent. Kosovo will instead have enhanced autonomy," he said.
Samardzic believes, however, that it is very unlikely that Kosovo's final status will be resolved in the next year. He said that "even if we start talks tomorrow, it will be at best six months to a year before we can even start to discuss final status."