Kosovo Issue -- Lots of Action Currently

UN WARNS PROGRESS IN KOSOVA RISKS 'UNRAVELING'...
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the situation in Kosova could regress unless a decision is reached on its final status, international media reported on July 5. A report due to be presented at the UN Security Council on July 9 says that there is "a real risk that the progress achieved by the United Nations and the Provisional Institutions in Kosovo can begin to unravel" unless Kosova's status is defined, Reuters reported. "The determination of Kosovo's future status should therefore remain a priority for the Security Council and for the international community as a whole," Ban added in the report, which has already been made public. International media reports say that UN diplomats are currently working on a fourth draft resolution aimed, according to one unnamed diplomat quoted by Reuters, "at trying to bring Russia into the process." Russia has dismissed previous resolutions, and none of its diplomats attended a meeting to review the last draft (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 25, 26, and 28, 2007). Russia wants Belgrade and Prishtina to return to bilateral talks under a new mediator and without time constraints. Officials representing the UN and the international force in Kosova, KFOR, on July 3 described the current security situation in Kosova as "stable" and "calm," but the head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Joachim Ruecker, warned the same day of possible violence unless the province's status is decided quickly, local media reported. That view was echoed on July 6 by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, at a gathering in Dubrovnik, Croatia, of political leaders from the Balkans, Kosovar Albanian media reported. AG

...AS EU STRESSES EUROPE WILL RESOLVE KOSOVA ISSUE
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met with Serbia's President Boris Tadic on July 6 in a bid to push forward the search for agreement on the future of Kosova, local and international media reported. While stressing that the EU does not connect Serbia's possible membership in the EU with the issue of Kosova's status, Barroso underlined that "the future of Serbia is not with Russia or the United States but with the European Union, to be blunt." Barroso's stance complemented a comment by the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, who in mid-May advised Serbia "to be careful...when hugging even a friendly big bear" -- a reference to Russia. Christina Gallach, a spokeswoman for the EU's foreign-policy chief, Javier Solana, raised a similar point on July 3, saying that the EU will take responsibility for deciding Kosova's future should Russia continue to reject UN resolutions. "Nobody can be a hostage of somebody else's policy and leave outstanding issues over and over again, risking the stability of the whole region," Gallach told the Serbian daily "Vecernje novosti." "Kosovo is a European issue and we have let Moscow know that we are interested in resolving that problem and consider it to be ours," Gallach said. She added that "the future of the Balkans depends on Europe and not on Russia. That is why the EU will make the decision [on Kosova's future] if necessary." Gallach stressed, though, that the EU will seek the consent of the UN Security Council. The Russian ambassador in Belgrade, Aleksandr Alekseyev, told Radio-Television Serbia on July 4 that Gallach's statement was "wrong, and that this is not the kind of language one can use when speaking to Russia." AG

SERBIA WARNS NEIGHBORS AGAINST RECOGNIZING KOSOVA...
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on July 6 warned Serbia's neighbors against unilaterally recognizing Kosova's independence, saying that "would cause long term instability in the region," AP and local media reported. Jeremic urged restraint to avoid "steps that would later be hard to reverse." Kosovar Albanian leaders continue to hint at the possibility of a unilateral declaration of independence, a notion that Washington initially publicly backed but from which it has since retreated (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 18, 2007). Jeremic was speaking during a visit to Montenegro at the end of a four-day tour that also took him to Bratislava, Vienna, and Berlin for meetings with the foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The Serbian news agency FoNet on July 6 quoted Jeremic as saying that "the Europeans have not yet decided how they will behave under conditions in which it is not realistic to expect that the UN Security Council would pass a resolution on Kosovo." The champion of Serbia's case in the UN, Russia, has so far rejected three draft resolutions on Kosova's future. AG

...WHILE MONTENEGRO STRESSES NEUTRAL STANCE
After holding talks with Serbian Foreign Minister Jeremic on July 6, Montenegro's foreign minister, Milan Rocen, said that Montenegro "will stay on the sidelines" on matters relating to Kosova, AP reported the same day. In an interview published on July 5 by the Austrian paper "Die Presse," Rocen urged the EU to show unity, saying "it would be wrong to leave it to the individual countries to decide whether to recognize Kosovo as an independent state," as "this would lead to new rifts in the region, in Europe, and in the entire world." Rocen reiterated that Montenegro's interest is in a "sustainable" solution in Kosova and he underscored Montenegro's neutral stance, saying that Montenegro is "a small country without any influence on the final status of Kosovo," is not able to "contribute to the solution of the problem," and is mainly interested in maintaining domestic political stability. Rocen said that "in the case of bilateral recognition agreements, they could not expect the small country Montenegro to volunteer to be a guinea pig. We will find a way to tell both Belgrade and Pristina our position in an appropriate manner and to maintain good relations with both of them." Montenegro has come under substantial pressure from its ethnic-Serbian parties to support Serbia's position on Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 1, 10, and 31, and June 20 and 25, 2007). However, Rocen said that he and Jeremic "agreed the two countries' relations are substantially closer and better than the public could get the impression or than may be heard in the statements by certain political parties or leaders." Jeremic chose not to meet with leaders of Montenegro's large Serbian community, a decision that elicited angry responses from some Serbian and Montenegrin Serbian parties, the Montenegrin daily "Dan" reported on July 5. AG

KOSOVA LIKELY TO HOLD ELECTIONS IN NOVEMBER
The head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Joachim Ruecker, on July 5 said that parliamentary and local elections should be held in Kosova in November, local media reported. Ruecker's proposal, which has yet to become definitive, has roused fears about the possible impact of the elections on discussions about the final status of the UN-administered Serbian province. Veton Surroi, a leader of the opposition and a member of the team negotiating Kosova's status, said that elections must not become an "excuse" to delay the decision about Kosova's status, the news service KosovaLive reported on July 5. The UN's failure to settle the question of independence for Kosova has prompted the Kosovar Albanian media and political opposition in recent weeks to question increasingly strongly the mandate of Kosova's leaders, who have repeatedly said that statehood is imminent. Ruecker did not say whether the elections will reflect recommendations made by the author of the UN's plan for Kosova, Martti Ahtisaari, which envisages new municipalities and new electoral legislation. These will be the third parliamentary elections in Kosova since 1999, when NATO forces ended the conflict between Serbian forces and ethnic-Albanian separatists. Local elections were due to be held in autumn 2006, but were postponed after local parties and UNMIK concluded that they could divert attention from bilateral talks on Kosova's status. AG