Council of Europe Assembly calls for Kosovo compromise and pursuit of talks

 It called on the UN Security Council to do everything in its power to overcome differences and reach a compromise in order to prevent Kosovo from becoming "a powder-keg and ultimately a frozen conflict in the Balkans".

The resolution marks a diplomatic victory for the Serbian delegation  as the body adopted the resolution without calls for imposing a solution, previously proposed in the draft by the rapporteur for Kosovo, British Lord Russell-Johnston.

The resolution was adopted with 96 votes in favor and 48 against, while 24 refrained from voting.

The most controversial paragraphs against which the Serbian delegation had objected called for imposing a status resolution, given that the possibilities for negotiating had fallen through. Lord Russell-Johnston also warned that an unresolved status was a source of instability that prevented the region's economic recovery.

Based on the Serbian delegation's amendment, the final text of the resolution says that "the assembly concludes, given that the final phase of negotiations failed to result in compromise, that alternative ways should be considered to ensure the resumption of negotiations based on the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and the reaching of a compromise solution in the near future."

The adopted amendment calls on the Security Council members to do all they can to overcome differences and find a way to reach a compromise solution.

Head of the Serbian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly Milos Aligrudic voiced his satisfaction with the adoption of the resolution, even though the members of the Serbian delegation had not voted for it.

"The point is that Lord Russell-Johnston's intention of saying that the Parliamentary Assembly should advocate an imposed solution has failed," Aligrudic said, adding that the Serbian delegation members had not voted for the resolution because not all of the amendments it had proposed had been adopted.

"Now it turns out that negotiations, dialogue and the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 are the priority," Aligrudic said.

Konsantin Kosachov, the head of the Russian delegation and Chairman of the Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, said international organization dealing with Kosovo status can not ignore the resolution of the PACE.

"Although it is not legally binding for the EU, the UNSC and NATO, this resolution is a clear expression of political will of the Assembly, which represents some 800 million Europeans (...) That is why it will be hard for the EU to ignore it", Kosachov said.

Before the vote, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis said that a decision on the future status of Kosovo should be made within the UN Security Council, but added that he was not optimistic about that happening, after talks with certain council members.

Davis said that it was to be expected that some countries would use Kosovo's independence as a precedent, in their efforts to gain independence as well.

"If Kosovo declares independence, then it will be up to individual states to recognize it, not the Council of Europe, because it is a collective body that includes Serbia and Russia, which both oppose the independence of Kosovo," Davis said.

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