Serbian President Boris Tadic said here on Tuesday that a legitimate decision on the future status of the southern Kosovo province could only be reached by the UN Security Council.
"Only a decision reached by this institution of the United Nations can find proof in the international law," Tadic told a session of the Serbian parliament devoted to a new draft resolution on Kosovo, which was broadcast live by the state television.
Kosovo, which legally remains a Serbian province, has been under UN administration since 1999 under the UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Following 13-month fruitless talks between Serbia and Kosovo, UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented in April a proposal recommending internationally supervised independence for Kosovo. The proposal received strong support from the United States, most EU countries as well as Kosovo's authorities, but was rejected by Serbia and its traditional ally Russia.
On Friday, the United States and five EU member states, faced with the threat of a veto by Russia, decided to give up their attempts to resolve the status of Kosovo in the UN Security Council and to transfer the process to the so-called Contact Group composed of the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia.
Serbia's position was now much better compared to the moment when the negotiations on Kosovo first began, Tadic said, adding that this did not mean that "things are great and that everything has been settled."
"What we have before us are very difficult days and negotiations we know nothing of the form they will have or who they will be led by, and all of this has yet to be defined," Tadic said.
The European Union said Monday it would try to open a new round of talks between Serbia and Kosovo through the Contact Group, which is scheduled to meet in Vienna on Wednesday.
Officials said negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo could start again in August or September, with the U.S., Russian and EU mediators initially shuttling between Belgrade and Pristina.
Source: Xinhua
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