Europese Unie zoekt oplossing voor 'neutrale status' Kosovo (en)
As diplomatic efforts on the fate of Kosovo look set to reach a dead end, the European Union's mediator has suggested a status neutral solution for Serbia's breakaway province - an idea quickly rejected by Belgrade and Pristina.
"The agreement on neutral status will be an offer to both sides to form relations independently of any decision today or tomorrow on Kosovo's status", the EU envoy for Kosovo, Wolfgang Ischinger, told journalists in Washington on Wednesday (14 November), AFP reports.
According to the diplomat, the neutral status solution could be a way of normalising ties between Belgrade and Pristina. It would regulate cooperation in areas such as economy, trade or the fight against crime, but stay away from status arrangements.
But both Belgrade and Pristina were quick to dismiss the idea.
"Any neutral status does not solve the matter as is necessary", Kosovo's president Fatmir Sejdu was cited as saying by AFP, adding that Kosovo's destiny is independence and European Union membership.
"We won't accept any solution that in this or in that way presents derogation or excludes the independence of Kosovo", Mr Sejdu stressed.
A firm rejection came from Serbia, too, with the country's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic saying "Kosovo is an integral and inalienable part of Serbia's territory".
"It clearly has to be confirmed that the province has a status of substantial autonomy within Serbia", Mr Samardzic added, according to AFP, underlining that only then could "working relations" between the two be established.
So far, Belgrade and Pristina have failed to make any progress at their face-to-face talks on the fate of Kosovo. While the Serbs refuse to grant their southern province anything beyond wide autonomy, the Kosovars insist on full independence.
A fresh round of diplomacy - led by the troika of envoys from the US, EU and Russia - is to take place in Brussels on November 20.
The troika is due to report back to the United Nations by 10 December, but the main concern remains what will happen if the Kosovars declare unilateral independence in the absence of a negotiated deal.
It is believed that while the US would recognize its declared independence, such a move would certainly split the 27-nation EU bloc.