Post by Bozur on Apr 10, 2005 0:59:17 GMT -5
Kostunica: Autonomy for Kosovo
By Jovana Gec - The Associated Press
BELGRADE - Serbia’s contested Kosovo province, a UN protectorate since 1999, should be granted full autonomy but not territorial independence, the prime minister said in comments published yesterday.
Vojislav Kostunica proposed a compromise between Serbia’s bid to keep control over the separatist province and an overwhelming pro-independence drive by Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians.
“The solution for Kosovo’s final status should be a compromise in which no one would gain everything and no one would lose everything,” Kostunica told Belgrade’s Blic daily. “That solution should be an extremely high level of autonomy — but not independence.”
A spokesman for Kosovo’s government, Arben Qirezi, called the proposal “anachronistic.”
“Kosovo’s independence is the only solution that ensures stability and democracy; not only for Kosovo but also for the whole region, including Belgrade,” he said in Pristina. “Any other solution that is proposed would be a return to the past, and we know what the past meant.”
There was no immediate comment from international officials running the province.
Kostunica suggested that Kosovo should be independent from Serbia’s rule, but should remain within the boundaries of Serbia-Montenegro, the loose union of the two republics that replaced Yugoslavia in 2003.
Kostunica did not specify Kosovo’s position within the union, but said it would have an “extremely high level of autonomy while at the same time, Pristina and Belgrade would maintain ties within a joint state form.”
“That would be a compromise,” he said. “Without returning to old solutions but also without independence (of Kosovo), which would undermine the stability of the Balkans.”
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=53615
By Jovana Gec - The Associated Press
BELGRADE - Serbia’s contested Kosovo province, a UN protectorate since 1999, should be granted full autonomy but not territorial independence, the prime minister said in comments published yesterday.
Vojislav Kostunica proposed a compromise between Serbia’s bid to keep control over the separatist province and an overwhelming pro-independence drive by Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians.
“The solution for Kosovo’s final status should be a compromise in which no one would gain everything and no one would lose everything,” Kostunica told Belgrade’s Blic daily. “That solution should be an extremely high level of autonomy — but not independence.”
A spokesman for Kosovo’s government, Arben Qirezi, called the proposal “anachronistic.”
“Kosovo’s independence is the only solution that ensures stability and democracy; not only for Kosovo but also for the whole region, including Belgrade,” he said in Pristina. “Any other solution that is proposed would be a return to the past, and we know what the past meant.”
There was no immediate comment from international officials running the province.
Kostunica suggested that Kosovo should be independent from Serbia’s rule, but should remain within the boundaries of Serbia-Montenegro, the loose union of the two republics that replaced Yugoslavia in 2003.
Kostunica did not specify Kosovo’s position within the union, but said it would have an “extremely high level of autonomy while at the same time, Pristina and Belgrade would maintain ties within a joint state form.”
“That would be a compromise,” he said. “Without returning to old solutions but also without independence (of Kosovo), which would undermine the stability of the Balkans.”
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=53615