The latest round of talks concluded in Vienna with both sides emerging dejected. The mediators, for their part, are keen to emphasise that there are areas of agreement and that an agreement can be reached.

Below is an article published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

KOSOVARS HIGHLIGHT DIFFERENCES WITH SERBS...

Kosovar and Serbian leaders spent October 22 [2007] in Vienna holding a fresh round of direct talks on the future of Kosova, but they emerged, if anything, further apart than ever. "This was probably one of the worst meetings we've had," AP quoted one of the five senior Kosovar negotiators, Veton Surroi, as saying. Comments by Kosova's president and prime underlined that there is, in their view, an unbridgeable gap. "I think we are too far away from each other" to reach a deal, Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters. "Independence is not something we are asking for," he said, leaving unsaid what he has said before -- that Kosova will declare independence if there is no agreement with Serbia. President Fatmir Sejdiu was similarly tough-talking, saying Belgrade is acting as obdurately as the man who sent Serbian troops into Kosova in 1998-99, the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The talks ended with "complete disagreement," Sejdiu said. The next round of talks will be held on November 5 [2007], again in Vienna.

...AFTER MEETING TO HIGHLIGHT SIMILARITIES

The Vienna talks were framed by 14 interim conclusions reached by the "troika" of international mediators after previous meetings. The reason, EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters, was to stress points of agreement rather than contention. For the same reason, the mediators' discussion paper bypassed the core issue, Kosova's final status. Ischinger had also characterized the meeting as an attempt to move "away from slogans and into the substance." The Kosovar Albanian team said they had no major objections to the mediators' conclusions, with its spokesman, Skender Hyseni, saying that "the discussion paper of the troika does contain pretty much what Prishtina's position is on the future relationship between Kosova and Serbia." By contrast, Serbia's minister for Kosova affairs, Slobodan Samardzic, was critical of the paper. Samardzic emphasized that Serbia is willing to give Kosova authority over its internal affairs, telling journalists, the news service Balkan Insight reported, that "we would be satisfied not to govern Kosovo in relation to its own internal affairs." However, he continued, the mediators' document cuts out Belgrade, "without leaving it any competencies." "Foreign policy and control of the border are the minimal competencies that Serbia should maintain and preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity", Samardzic said. Serbia's chief ally, Russia, contributed to the troika's document through Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, who is one of the three mediators.

KOSOVA MEDIATORS PRESENT CONCLUSIONS...

The international diplomats mediating the Kosova talks expressed the hope that, "without prejudice to the positions of both parties on [Kosova's final] status," the "principles" laid out in their 14-point summary of conclusions could "open a path to a solution." The document itself has been reprinted by several media organizations, including the news service Balkan Insight. Several conclusions address the management of the relationship between Serbia and Kosova: the two will develop the "special nature" of their relationship and will resolve disputes peacefully. Issues where cooperation is required are stipulated, as well as the need to "establish common bodies to implement cooperation." Three conclusions lay down red lines for Serbia: "there will be no return to the pre-1999 status," Belgrade "will not govern Kosovo," and nor will it "reestablish a physical presence in Kosovo." Prishtina, in exchange, would be obliged to guarantee the protection of minorities and their cultural heritage. Three conclusions underline Kosova's economic rights -- to enjoy "full authority over its finances," to forge relations with international financial institutions, and to "be fully integrated into regional structures, particularly those involving economic cooperation." Two conclusions have a particularly large foreign-policy dimension: they underline Kosova's and Serbia's shared desire to join the EU, as well as obliging Serbia not to hinder Kosova's relationship with the EU. The final conclusion relates to security: "The international community will retain civilian and military presences in Kosovo after status is determined."

...AS SERBIA PRESENTS COUNTERPROPOSALS

During the talks in Vienna, Serbia's negotiators presented a point-for-point response to the mediators' conclusions, Radio-Television Serbia reported. From the channel's verbatim read-through of the document, the Serbian team left largely unchanged the troika's conclusions on cooperation, on Kosova's rights on economic matters, and Kosova's obligations to minorities. Their counterproposal broadly accepts two of the troika's conclusions delimiting Serbian influence -- Belgrade "will not govern Kosovo," and nor will it "reestablish a physical presence in Kosovo" -- but also makes clear they are still subject to further debate. On foreign-policy issues, such as relations with the EU, Belgrade's document talks of "Serbia and the province of Kosovo-Metohija" progressing "towards EU association and, finally, membership." One key change attempts to forestall a move to independence by Kosova: Belgrade's counterproposal replaces the mediators' emphasis on forging a fresh relationship with a commitment by "all three sides -- Serbian institutions, Kosovo interim institutions, and international community representatives -- ...to refrain from any unilateral moves." In several cases -- regarding the international military presence in Kosova and minority rights -- Serbia demands UN mandates and approval, and -- critically -- it stipulates that while there can be "no return to the state of affairs prior to 1999," "the future status of Kosovo should be found in line with the [UN Security Council] Resolution 1244." That is the resolution with which the UN Security Council authorized an international military and civilian presence in Kosova in 1999. It also reaffirms "the commitment of all [UN] member states to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other states of the region."