TRANSCRIPT SRSG PRESS CONFERENCE 30 SEPTEMBER 2003

SRSG Harri Holkeri:

I just finished my short meeting with the President of the European Parliament. I used the meeting with him for a very useful purpose. But before I tell you about that, I want to say that after a long-lasting discussion with the leaders in Pristina and Belgrade, and in different parts of other countries, in Europe and in America, I have finally come to the conclusion that it is now time to announce the date and the venue of the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade. I told the President of the Parliament of the European Union that I intend to launch the talks in Vienna on the 14 of October. This is probably not a surprise to anybody. But it is not so easy to confirm something when there are still a couple of details, which still remain open, however that date is now fixed.

I have tried to actively listen to the advice of the international community especially those of the Contact Group and the EU. Yesterday, the EU gave a strong support to the dialogue during the meeting of the foreign ministers. My sincere hope is that the Kosovar leaders will hear my call and participate in this effort of fulfilling one of the benchmarks.

The Dialogue is an essential part of the benchmarks. The sooner we can follow this path and obtain results, the sooner we will be done with benchmarking. This then shows the way towards meeting of the standards. Our order is standards first and then, after that the question of status. The dialogue, as you know, is for practical issues and will be on a technical level. The launching will be as far as I can guess, a relatively short event, with some high profile international representatives and the delegations from Pristina and Belgrade. But the real work will start when the working groups begin and we are quite intensively preparing for the start of the working group meetings which will take place quite soon after the inauguration of the dialogue.

I don't give any exact dates. I know that it is dangerous to tell you that it would take place on a particular date, but I can tell that even that work must begin quite soon in order to get results to help the life of the ordinary people, which is that we are aiming at. We don't lead negotiations as such. These negotiations constitute tools to produce specific results to help improve the living conditions of people in Kosovo. I think that it is the responsibility of every politician to serve the electorate, especially in the period preceding the elections both in Belgrade and in Pristina.
Let's show what we can achieve on the practical level, so that the political system can provide new solutions for the everyday life of people.

Yesterday I had some talks in Belgrade, I met with the Prime Minister and with the Deputy Prime Minister. These discussions were quite constructive and I think Belgrade is ready for the launching of the dialogue. I do hope to have this week discussions here in Pristina so that we can start making all necessary preparations because they are needed. We do have to be prepared. There are so many technical details we have to take on board, that all kind of political speculations hopefully will disappear and we will go ahead with our duties.

QUESTIONS

Koha Ditore: Who will lead the delegations, who will form the delegation from Belgrade and in Pristina?

SRSG: I can't give orders on who is going to be there from Belgrade, but the Pristina delegation. As far as UNMIK is concerned, it is presumably going to be led by me.

Reuters: Kosovo politicians want transfer of competencies even of these practical issues, which are to be discussed with Belgrade. Are you going to discuss transfer of more competencies this week?

SRSG: The transfer of the competencies is a separate matter. Of course we are working all the time on this issue. You probably know that I received a letter from the Prime Minister, with whom have had several meetings and discussions specifically on this. I should add that these meetings will continue. You know that according to the Constitutional Framework there are competencies, which can be transferred easily and there is very little still remaining to be done. However, there are some reserved areas in Chapter Eight, which are more complex, and I cannot violate the decisions of the Security Council, we cannot go in that area. However, we can help in certain questions the government and the PM to be with us when we are moving forward. We have a sort of a plan for special arrangements like exchanging information between my office and the office of the PM. It remains to be seen what kind of arrangements are possible. I am expecting advise from my legal office, but we will do everything to meet the hopes of the PM as much as we can.

Zëri: Mr. Holkeri, should there be an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia: who will sign it? You or the Government of Kosovo?

SRSG: Of course it depends on the kind of agreement and on the outcome. If the outcome is within the competencies of the government then of course it would be the government.

AP: Mr. Holkeri, you said that you hope that Albanian political leaders would come around and decide to join you on the date of 14 October. Do you think that this date is really set and will not be moved?

SRSG: No, this date cannot be moved.

VOA: Mr. Holkeri, as you came back here today, it doesn't seem that in Pristina there is really any mood for talks with Belgrade. Actually there is no consensus between the parliamentary groups for the dialogue. What are you going to do? Are you going to have talks with leaders here to try and fix it? What's going to happen?

SRSG: I do not want to speculate, of course I am in contact with the political leaders and with the leaders of the institutions and I am going to continue my work - it is a part of discussions and of the daily meetings, but I don't want to speculate. I also think that if you invite difficulties, you will get them.

AFP: Mr. Holkeri you said that Belgrade is ready for launching of the dialogue, is Pristina ready for the launching of the dialogue in your view?

SRSG: I think that on 21 June both sides made their commitment and they both announced their readiness. I come from an environment, where one word of a man counts for more than ink on paper. Once it has been promised it is just a technicality how we can move forward.
I fully understand the feelings on both sides, but they are both committed. It is now my responsibility to organize the actual meeting and launch the work.
I would like to say one thing: serious politicians do not play tricks, tricks belong to the circus, not to the serious business where we are trying to solve the problems of ordinary citizens.