23 10 2007 Tirana _ Albania’s Foreign Minister has said that if no agreement is reached at the talks on Kosovo’s status by December 10, the proposals of UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari should be adopted.
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Lulzim Basha, said that if leaders of Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians failed to settle the UN-administered territory’s future by the December deadline favoured by the West, Ahtisaari’s plan should go into force.
Ahtisaari’s recommendations, rejected earlier this year by Serbia and blocked by Russia at the UN, envisage supervised independence for Kosovo.
“We have made our position clear that if the current round of talks ends on December 10 without agreement, and we don’t have a [UN Security Council] resolution, then the only option that remains is acting according to the Ahtisaari plan, including independence”, Basha said.
The Albanian foreign minister expressed his appreciation for the stance taken by Kosovo’s negotiating team at Monday’s Vienna talks, describing it as a proof of political maturity.
“The position taken by the Unity Team shows the will of Kosovo’s legitimate representatives to engage in the negotiating process which demonstrates that Kosovo has a clear vision of its responsibilities, in accordance with the standards of the Contact Group”, Basha said, referring to the six-nation body that brings together Russia and the main western powers on Kosovo.
Basha stopped short of stating that Albania would recognize a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, and confirmed that, like the rest of the international community, Tirana was now focused on the current talks under the aegis of a Troika of international mediators.
“Albania, with its international partners backs the efforts of the diplomatic “Troika,” though December 10 is the last chance for an agreement. After that date there will be developments according to international documents, the most important of which is the Ahtisaari plan”, he said. (BIRN)
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