(Vatican Radio) The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says Serbia
and Kosovo are close to a deal to end the ethnic partition of the former Serbian province.
She spoke after the leaders of both nations expressed optimism about an agreement
as early as next week.
At the heart of EU-mediated talks is the status of
Kosovo's Serb-dominated north where the central government has very little presence.
In a significant U-turn, Serbia offered to recognize the authority of Kosovo's government
over the north, in exchange for autonomy for Serbs living there. The two sides were
at odds however over the powers any Serb institutions in the north would have.
But
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic now says they are in his words "never closer" to
settling their differences. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told reporters earlier
they were at what he called "the beginning of the end" in reaching an accord to normalize
relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The two men spoke after separate talks with EU
foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Belgrade and Pristina.
Ashton
said later she believes the agreement could reached in Brussels as early as March
20. "I pay great respect to the two prime ministers, Hashim Thaci [of Kosovo] and
Ivica Dacic (of Serbia). They have met six times and will meet on Wednesday," she
said.
"I have been to Pristina and to Belgrade...I think it is possible
for them to reach an agreement. Whether they will or not will depend on whether we
can find a way through some of the difficult problems they have," Ashton added.
However,
"I've met with members of the government and in Pristina I [also] met with the opposition
parties," she explained.
"I think there is a genuine willingness to achieve
this [agreement]. And I do my very best to see if we can," the optimistic top diplomat
said.
Progress on the issue will decide whether the EU opens
accession talks with Serbia in June, a process that would drive reform and potentially
lure investors to the biggest economy in what was Yugoslavia.
Majority ethnic-Albanian
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. That move came almost a decade after
NATO military alliance bombs forced Serb forces to end their crackdown, on independence
seeking ethnic Albanians.