[ Kosova-o ]

A lot is happening in/around Kosovo these days, but nothing very new. At a special session of the UN Security Council on Kosovo, in which Kosovo Prime Minister Kosumi took part as an observer, UNMIK head Jessen Petersen presented his quarterly report on the situation in Kosovo: he deplored that the standard implementation process had slowed down - "Standards, as a political priority, cannot be subsumed by status" - and urged Kosovo-Serbs to participate in the reforms.

The Serbian President Tadic called for a negotiated, compromise solution of the Kosovo status ("very wide autonomy") - while in Belgrade the radical SRS makes pressure on the government, calling for a mobilisation of troops to prevent the independence of Kosovo, which according to SRS leader Nikolic would represent an "occupation" of Serbian territory (cf. TAZ, 14.2.2006).

Meanwhile, in Prishtina, a team led by Kosovo President Sejdiu agreed on a position on decentralisation, one of the main issues to be discussed with the Belgrade delegation in Vienna on 20-21 February. The seven-member Prishtina delegation will be headed by Lutfi Haziri (Minister of local self-government, LDK) and by Jakup Krasniqi (PDK parlamentarian/opposition).