Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Tuesday rejected the possibility of his country forging a confederation with Kosovo as a solution to the future status of its southern province.
In a statement to the Beta news agency, Kostunica said the idea for Serbia and Kosovo to form a confederation of sovereign states, reportedly floated by the European Union, was "nonsensical."
"The Serbian government is ready to start true and essential talks on autonomy for the Albanian ethnic minority in Kosovo, based on U.N. Resolution 1244," Kostunica said.
The question of all ethnic minorities in Europe and the rest of the world is resolved exclusively through various forms of autonomy and that universal rule must also be held valid for the Albanian ethnic minority, he said.
The Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti reported on Tuesday the EU could look to promote the idea of a confederation between Serbia and Kosovo.
"A confederation would represent a 'compromise' acceptable to Serbs and Albanians; the 'united' country would remain intact, the borders would not be altered in the Balkans, the word 'independence' would be avoided," the newspaper said.
Kosovo, which legally remains a Serbian province, has been under U.N. administration since 1999.
Following 13 months of fruitless talks between Serbia and Kosovo, U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented in March a proposal recommending internationally supervised independence for Kosovo.
The proposal received strong support from the United States, most countries of the European Union (EU) as well as Kosovo's authorities, but was rejected by Serbia and its traditional ally Russia.
Russia's veto threat has forced the West to step back from a U.N. Security Council vote on a U.S.-EU draft resolution on Kosovo and try to resolve the issue in a fresh round of talks over the next 120 days.
The negotiations will now be pursued through the Contact Group on Kosovo, which is composed of Britain, France, Italy, Germany, the United States and Russia.
Source: Xinhua
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