EU's Kosovo envoy threatens isolation for Serbia over Kosovo скачать в хорошем качестве

EU's Kosovo envoy threatens isolation for Serbia over Kosovo

(12 Aug 2007) SHOTLIST 1. Pan down of the exterior of the Pristina hotel 2. Wide of official's vehicles approaching the hotel 3. Mid of Russian diplomat, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko exiting his vehicle 4 Wolfgang Ischinger, EU's diplomat taking his seat 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Wolfgang Ischinger, EU's diplomat: "It is the principal of the 'troika' to be prepared to endorse any agreement which both parties manage to achieve. Any agreement which both parties manage to achieve, that includes all options, that includes all options. If they want to pursue any option that is fine with us, but the Contact Group or the 'troika' is not going to pursue any specific plan, and no one should believe that we as 'troika' will come up with some alternative or some additional plan to the Ahtisaari's (Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari) plan. We are not going to do that. We are going to ask parties (to do that)." 6. Close up of EU flag 7. SOUNDBITE(English) Wolfgang Ischinger, EU's diplomat: "And I think both sides understand that its about their own interest, that this is all about and that their European future, the perspective of them coming closer to the EU associating themselves with the values and the constitutional believes of the European Union depends very much on their ability to reach an agreement here. In the absence of such agreement the European door will not be as open as I'm sure everyone here in this region would hope it to be." 8. Ischinger leaving the media conference STORYLINE The European Union's (EU) envoy to the Kosovo talks threatened to leave Serbia and Kosovo out of the 27-member bloc on Sunday, if the sides failed to reach a compromise solution on the province's future. Wolfgang Ischinger, the EU's representative to a group of diplomats known as the troika that also includes the US and Russia, said that dividing it along ethnic lines was an option if parties agreed. Ischinger also said an agreement was key if the two former foes wanted to become part of the European Union. "In absence of such agreement the European door will not be as open as I'm sure everyone here in this region would hope it to be," Ischinger said. The diplomats are in the region to reopen talks after Russia threatened to block a Western-backed plan to grant Kosovo internationally supervised independence in the UN Security Council. Both sides in the talks have expressed doubt an agreement will be reached. Ischinger however did not rule out partition of the province as an outcome to the talks slated to last 120 days saying a solution to the festering issue included "all options." "If they want to pursue any option that is fine with us, but no one should believe that we as 'troika' will come up with some alternative or some additional plan to the Ahtisaari's plan,"Ischinger said. He added that if Serbia and Kosovo wanted an alternative plan to the one that former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari proposed they would need to explore that as a partnership. Yearlong talks led Ahtisaari failed to produce an agreement. Ahtisaari, acting as an envoy for the UN, proposed Kosovo should become independent but retain an international presence to guarantee the rights of the Serb minority. Ischinger said if Kosovo and Serbia wanted to secure their future with the European Union it depended on their ability to reach an agreement here. As the latest effort, the second in as many years got under way, negotiators on both sides remained adamant they would not fall back from their positions. The talks are to be followed by a report to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by December 10. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...