By DPA
Baden(Austria) : The last round of negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo on the future status of Kosovo failed Wednesday, setting the stage for the province’s independence.
“We regret that Serbia did not find it possible to agree to the independent final state of Kosovo,” the province’s likely new prime minister, Hashim Thaci, said at the conclusion of three-day talks held in the Austrian town Baden.
Throughout the talks, positions remained rigid with Kosovo insisting on full independence and Belgrade only willing to grant substantial autonomy to the province inhabited by more than 90 percent ethnic Albanians.
Kosovo made clear that it had never intended to budge. “We have not sought Belgrade’s consent but partnership with Serbia,” Kosovo delegation member Veton Surroi told journalists.
Mediators from the European Union, Russia and the US failed to move the two parties any closer.
Serbia insisted that talks had to be continued even after a Dec 10 deadline set by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. A stalemate in the Security Council is likely as Russia is expected to block any decision that does not have Serbia’s approval.
Kosovo’s President Fatmir Sejdiu made clear that his province would not consent to new talks. “We consider this process thoroughly exhausted,” he said after the meeting.
Kosovo’s leaders said they wanted to declare independence – in consultation with EU and the US – as soon as possible. There would be no violence involved in the process, the Kosovo side stressed. Belgrade had also vowed that any change of status would be peaceful, they added.