BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Serbia wants talks on the future status of Kosovo to continue after a December 10 deadline, its minister for the breakaway province said on Monday.
Serbian Minister for Kosovo Metohija Slobodan Samardzi said it was the only chance to find a solution agreed by both sides.
Neither side budged from their original positions during a new round of talks on Sunday in Brussels ahead of the December 10 report to the United Nations by a trio of envoys.
That date represents a cut-off point after which the Kosovo Albanians have threatened to declare independence.
“We need time to talk,” Samardzic told a conference organised by a Serb think-tank. “If we start to speak as two delegations about our legitimate problems we need more time. If there is an idea to come to a compromise, we need more time.”
“Without this kind of time pressure and the pressure … for imposing a solution, I am sure we could achieve step by step, gradually, progress and finally may be also a solution,” Samardzic said.
Serb and Kosovo Albanian officials agreed to meet again in on October 22.
Up to four more meetings are planned throughout November, Samardzic said.
“Nobody can expect a positive outcome by December 10, in terms of finding a solution. The most positive outcome would be if we see there is the possibility to continue,” he added.
Serbia opposes ceding independence to Kosovo, seen by many Serbs as the country’s cultural heartland.
Kosovo Albanians are increasingly frustrated that their U.N.-administered province remains in limbo eight years after a NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb atrocities.
The West fears a unilateral declaration of independence could unleash new Balkans chaos and is already taking behind-the-scenes measures for such an eventuality.
On Sunday, EU mediator Wolfgang Ischinger appealed to both sides to take “painful decisions” to narrow their differences.
But Serb officials said they still opposed a proposal by the Kosovo Albanians for a friendship treaty between Serbia and an independent Kosovo and accused them of playing for time.
The latest set of negotiations were launched after U.N. Security Council veto-holder Russia blocked a U.N.-sponsored plan that would have set the 90-percent ethnic Albanian province of 2 million firmly on the road to independence.
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