The UK Ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, has called on Belgrade and Pristina not to get too much involved in the question of tactics but to engage in normalization of relations, as this is the only way to advance towards European integration.
“I want to encourage both sides not to engage too much in tactics here (in the UN Security Council) but to focus on achieving higher goals and to make effort, together with the EU High Representative, on normalizing relations,” Pierce told at a press conference on 1st August, after the first session of the UN Security Council under the British presidency.
When asked by a journalist why did the UN Security Council refused to have a debate on the regular UNMIK report in August, Pierce said the Security Council should focus on the most urgent issues relating to international peace and security, and that the issue of Kosovo, although still important, was a regional issue that did not require the UN Security Council to have a regular meeting about it.
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“We are talking to the Serbian and Russian parties about more focused meetings, and we have not yet come to the conclusion, but we will continue talking. It is our goal to try to reach a reasonable conclusion acceptable to all and then we can return to the UN Security Council,” she added.
The British Ambassador underlined that it was of utmost importance for Serbia and Kosovo, along with the EU that should assist them, to make progress in normalizing relations, because only through the normalization of relations would it be possible to achieve progress in EU integration, which is of “vital importance to both nations and both economies “.
On 10th June, 1999, when the Resolution 1244 was adopted, the Security Council regularly reviewed the reports of the UN Secretary General on the situation in Kosovo and the work of UNMIK. The last such session was held on 14th May.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered a report on Kosovo to the Security Council members that covers the period from 16th April to 15th July, and the debate on the report, according to the programme published on 1st August, will not be held in August.
Great Britain and other Western countries have earlier advocated a change in the format and dynamics of the sessions on Kosovo, as well as the reduction of the UNMIK budget, arguing that the situation in Kosovo does not represent a real threat to international peace and security.
Official Belgrade believes that the issue of Kosovo is not resolved and that the situation on the ground indicates the necessity of further presence and engagement of UNMIK in the same mandate scope.
(Euractiv, 02.08.2018)
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