EU-begeleide onderhandelingen tussen Kosovo en Servië begint moeizaam (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Kosovo's negotiator in the newly-launched Kosovo-Serbia reconciliation talks has described her Serbian counterpart as being "respectful" but stuck in an outdated world view.
"We didn't see much change in the position of the Serbian government vis-a-vis the new reality in Kosovo and the Balkans. It seems they came with the previous views when in fact the situation has changed," Kosovo's deputy prime minister Edita Tahiri told EUobserver in Brussels on Wednesday (9 March) after wrapping up the first-ever round of talks in the new format.
"Kosovo has been recognised as a state by 75 different countries, the International Court of Justice has recognised the legality of the declaration of independence, Kosovo is a member of the World Bank, the IMF - this is the new reality."
She described her Serbian counterpart, Stefan Bogdanovic, a senior official in the Serbian foreign ministry, as being "respectful" and noted that the very fact the meeting took place is a success given the "tragic history" of the Kosovo war.
Ms Tahiri recalled that the choice of vocabulary was from time to time a problem. Mr Bogdanovic used words that implied Kosovo is a province of Serbia while she used the language of statehood.
"You can't stick to abstractions when you talk about concrete issues on the ground. Both sides should make an effort in their choice of words ... but if one side is stuck in the past and the other is talking about reality, matching-up is difficult," she said.
There were no Kosovar or Serb insignia, such as flags, in the room to avoid nitpicking.
The meeting was chaired by EU official and Balkans expert Robert Cooper. The EU also invited US assistant secretary of state Tom Countryman to join in.
Ms Tahiri said the two men took an active part and pitched in with problem-solving ideas but stayed neutral despite the fact that the EU and US are the main architects of Kosovo independence.
"The atmosphere was extremely good, friendly, but also honest," Mr Cooper said in a formal statement.
The two-day talks went on three hours longer than expected and tackled day-to-day issues such as how ethnic Serbs in Kosovo can use Serb mobile phone services; how Kosovo can get back birth certificates and land-ownership records held by Serbia; whether Serbia will let Kosovo-bound flights use its airspace; and whether UN officials must continue to speak for Kosovo in the regional trade club, Cefta.
Ms Tahiri and Mr Bogdanovic are expected to meet again in Brussels before the end of the month and twice a month after that for the next year.
The EU hopes that solving some of the micro-problems will improve relations between ordinary Kosovars and Serbs, creating a better political climate for Serbia to one day recognise Kosovo and for both of them to join the Union.
Bigger bones for later
A Serb diplomat told this website that big-ticket items - such as how to govern the ethnic-Serb-dominated Mitrovica region in north Kosovo or the ethnic-Albanian-dominated Presevo region in southeast Serbia - are not part of the new dialogue.
An on-the-record interview with the Serbian side was requested by EUobserver but Belgrade representatives declined.
Speaking more broadly, Ms Tahiri warned that it would be "dangerous" to tweak Kosovo's borders or to give Mitrovica semi-autonomous status.
"These ideas touch the borders. The Balkans are highly complex, if you touch one part of the borders, it will cause a domino effect," she explained. "If you move ahead with such changes, in Serbia, you will have Sandzak [a region shared by Serbia and Montenegro], the Albanians in Presevo valley, Albanians in Macedonia and Serbs in Republika Srpska also calling for changes."
Asked if a recent Council of Europe report accusing her boss, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, of running an organ-smuggling mafia in the 1990s, has harmed her negotiating position, Ms Tahiri said: "If anybody has a damaged image in these talks ... it's clear that in the past 10 years of the crisis, Serbia was cracking down militarily and exerting violence to the level of genocide."
She added: "It hasn't affected the talks. But if we speak about the state image [of Kosovo], we cannot deny it affected the image of the state."