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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000312 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SR YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: BELGRADE EAGER TO DISCUSS STATUS 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michael C. Polt, (Reasons 1.4 B&D) 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
1.(C) In meetings with official USG visitors on 2/24, and 
in remarks before an extraordinary parliamentary session on 
2/27, members of the Serbian negotiation team for Kosovo 
status signaled their desire to open up a political track 
to negotiate Kosovo's status in direct discussions with 
Albanian interlocutors.  The political track would begin 
before the end of-- and run parallel to-- the current 
expert-level negotiations on decentralization and other 
issues which affect the quality of life of the Serbian 
minority in Kosovo.  The Serbian parliament unanimously 
endorsed a report on the Vienna meeting paving the way for 
the continuation of talks.  END SUMMARY. 
 
HAPPY WITH THE DECENTRALIZATION TRACK, BUT . . . 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
2.(C) Upon their return from the 2/21-2/22 meetings in 
Vienna on Kosovo decentralization, chief Serbian 
negotiators Slobodan Samardzic from the Prime Minister's 
office and Leon Kojen from the President's office gave 
positive assessments of the dialogue in meetings with 
EUR/SCE Director Charles English and U.S. liaison to the 
Ahtisaari team, Jeff Hovenier.  Kojen said he thought the 
chairman's statement presented at the end of the two-day 
session was "surprisingly well balanced", and implied that 
Rohan had exaggerated--to the benefit of the Serbs--the 
degree of agreement on several issues.  Both Kojen and 
Samardzic expressed a certain level of frustration at the 
slow pace of the status negotiations, and said they would 
have preferred to continue the discussion sooner than 3/17, 
as is currently planned.  They also expressed skepticism 
that a negotiated agreement would be implemented. 
Samardzic called it, "just a paper", and said, that when it 
comes to putting the agreement into practice, "the 
Albanians won't give anything." 
 
PUSHING THE STATUS ENDGAME 
-------------------------- 
3.(C) Samardzic and Kojen both said it was time to open a 
"political" direct dialogue on the status question itself. 
Samardzic pushed for the political talks to run parallel to 
the newly-opened "expert" dialogue on decentralization and 
other issues.  Noting the Contact Group's recent message 
that the talks should be completed by the end of 2006, and 
referring to the terms of reference that Status Envoy 
Martti Ahtisaari had shared with them, Samardzic said that 
the "main purpose of the talks should be to discuss status 
with the Albanians in front of a mediator."  He asked for 
U.S. support for beginning such a discussion, at the same 
time stressing that he understood there would be no control 
of Pristina from Belgrade, and that the Serbian side was 
ready to ask the Albanian side in direct discussions, "what 
do you want?".  Kojen seemed less inclined to open the 
political track immediately, suggesting that it should come 
somewhere in the middle of the expert-level process on 
decentralization, in order to build on the common ground 
that would be developed during the course of the talks. 
"Realistically," said Kojen, "it needn't be too far away." 
 
4.(C) Kojen emphasized he believes the parallel political 
track is important as a mechanism to force the Albanian 
side to make progress on decentralization, since after the 
private messages by the U.S. and the U.K. that the outcome 
would be independence, there was no reason for the Albanian 
side to go any further in the dialogue.  Kojen acknowledged 
the importance of expanding the decentralization discussion 
into other topics that affect the Serb minority, such as 
protection of cultural monuments and property rights, and 
other "incentives" for the Serb minority.  However, Kojen 
said that many of these other issues were intrinsically 
linked to status, since the Serb minority would likely 
immediately leave Kosovo if it became independent. 
 
PARLIAMENTARY SESSION ACCEPTS REPORT 
------------------------------------ 
5.(U) PM Kostunica echoed the same theme in his 2/27 
remarks before a special session of parliament called to 
hear the report of Samardzic and Kojen on the Vienna talks. 
In his address, Kostunica said the talks have two aims: the 
preservation of Kosovo withinSerban borders and 
preservation of Serbian peope within Kosovo.  He took 
pains to distinguish taks on decentralization-- as well as 
alks on cultural heritage, property rights, and 
privatization-- from the "actual talks" on Kosovo status, 
 
BELGRADE 00000312  002 OF 002 
 
 
"which have not yet begun", and proclaimed that "we are 
ready for the immediate beginning of the Kosovo status 
talks".  In calling for an immediate discussion of status, 
the Prime Minister appealed to Ahtisaari and the Contact 
Group to organize the talks, "with the belief that a 
compromise solution is attainable, because only a 
compromise solution can be a real and lasting one."  At the 
end of the session, the parliament unanimously adopted the 
report of the negotiating team, paving the way for the 
continuation of negotiations. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
6.(C) In light of what it perceives as public disagreements 
within the Contact Group, Belgrade may be testing how far 
it can challenge the U.S./E.U./U.K/Ahtisaari private 
message that the outcome of the talks will inevitably be 
independence.  They see a separate political track to 
discuss status as their best hope of doing this, and of 
showing the Serbian people they are making a real effort. 
We are likely to hear more calls for a status track as the 
talks continue.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶7. (U) This message is releasable in its entirety to Mr. 
Ahtisaari. 
POLT