EU mediator fails to restart Serbia-Kosovo talks

Oct 11, 2011, 15:25 GMT

Pristina/Belgrade - European Union mediator Robert Cooper ended his tour of Belgrade and Pristina on Tuesday without securing a date for the continuation of stalled talks between Serbia and Kosovo.

Kosovo's chief negotiator, Edita Tahiri, said after meeting Cooper that dialogue would continue, but that no date had been agreed.

'We do not accept to discuss our internal affairs with neighbouring countries,' Tahiri told reporters after meeting Cooper, referring to Serbia's demand for a change of the agenda and a shift of the focus on to tensions in Kosovo.

The EU has since March been trying to facilite the negotiations in a bid to resolve real-life issues stemming from Kosovo's secession from Serbia in 2008.

Belgrade broke off the talks in late September, amid violence in the Serb enclave in northern Kosovo following Pristina's moves to assert its control over the area.

Serbia said then - and again Friday during Cooper's visit to Belgrade - that it will not negotiate with Kosovo before the situation in the north is resolved.

Belgrade's negotiator, Borislav Stefanovic, insisted that problems in the north must be resolved before the original agenda - with energy, telecommunications and Kosovo's participation in regional initiatives next on the list - can be restored.

European leaders warned Serbia that it must 'make progress' in talks with Kosovo and stop meddling in the north before it can move closer to EU membership.

Albanians are vastly dominant in Kosovo overall, but are outnumbered by the Serbs in several enclaves, with the one in the north being by far the largest.

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