Leiding Kosovo: geen overhaaste stappen met betrekking tot onafhankelijkheid (en)
EU foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels to discuss the future of Kosovo, Serbia's breakaway province, as the deadline for a negotiated deal between Belgrade and Pristina expires today (10 December).
The European Union's mediator for Kosovo, Wolfgang Ischinger, will arrive to brief all 27 ministers on the results of diplomatic efforts led by the troika of envoys from the US, the EU and Russia.
"After 120 days of intensive negotiations, the parties were unable to reach an agreement on Kosovo's status (...) neither party was willing to concede its position on the fundamental question of sovereignty on Kosovo", the troika concluded in its report on the last resort talks, according to the BBC.
Both the EU and the US say that efforts to strike a compromise were exhausted. The Kosovars continue to insist on full independence, while the Serbs are refusing to grant their southern province anything beyond wide autonomy.
But the 27-nation bloc is divided when it comes to what the next step should be. Some countries fear Kosovo independence, without a new UN resolution, could serve as a precedent for other separatist movements within the EU.
Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Spain and Slovakia are believed to be most against Kosovo independence without UN approval.
Fearing the split, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the UK wrote a joint letter to their counterparts on Friday (7 December), urging them to honour their commitments to the breakaway province, the BBC reports.
Meanwhile, Hashim Thaci - the former guerrilla leader, who is expected to become Kosovo's prime minister - has indicated Pristina will put off a declaration of independence until it gains the final blessing from the European Union.
"The EU is the key. We are for a co-ordinated declaration of independence. For us recognition is as important as the declaration", Mr Thaci said in an interview with the Financial Times.
The message was echoed by a senior Kosovar Albanian advisor, Azem Vllasi, who told the FT that "we don't have to hurry with the act immediately after 10 December".
"These steps must be in agreement with western countries, and all the signs from western countries are that independence is a thing we can make", he added, with the beginning of March being floated as a possible deadline.