EU could accept brief delay in Kosovo talks

PRISTINA, Serbia, Feb 7 (Reuters) A brief delay in a final round of U.N.-mediated talks on the future of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo would be acceptable to the European Union, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said today.

Serbia has asked for a ten-day delay in Serb-Albanian talks, due to start next Tuesday, to allow the country to convene a new parliament elected two weeks ago.

''Anything that is reasonable as far as time, can be acceptable,'' Solana said. ''Maybe a week or something like that.'' The talks are the last step in a one-year process led by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, who last Friday unveiled a plan which sets Kosovo on the path to independence -- an outcome Serbia strongly opposes.

The envoy says he is not optimistic of finding last-minute will to compromise in further talks, but has set aside two weeks and sent out invitations to both sides to meet him in Vienna.

Solana said Serbia should use the time to convene parliament and renew the mandate of its Kosovo negotiating team. Belgrade has said that without a renewed mandate, no officials could legitimately represent Serbia in the Vienna talks.

''I don't think we should risk credibility for a question of a week,'' Solana said. ''We want them to get engaged and move the proposal ahead.'' NATO wrested control of Kosovo from Serbia in 1999 to halt the slaughter of civilians in a counter-guerrilla war. Serbia wants its sovereignty reinstated and is offering the 90 percent Albanian majority ''substantial autonomy'', which they reject.

The six-power Contact Group on Kosovo postponed Ahtisaari's plan last November, in order to avoid inflaming nationalist passions in the Serbian general election of Jan. 21.

Diplomats caution patience is running out among Kosovo Albanians, who blame the eight-year political limbo for a stagnant economy and 50 percent unemployment. They warn any lengthy delay could spark unrest in the province.

Solana echoed the worry, saying he hoped Kosovo's people and institutions will be ''up to the responsibility of this time''.

DELAY WON'T CHANGE MUCH A delay could also reflect a shift within the Contact Group -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Italy -- which has shared responsibility for Kosovo since 1999.

The Western five have made clear they favour independence for Kosovo, but Russia, a fellow Orthodox nation and sometime Serbia ally, is against an ''imposed settlement''.

Far from unquestioningly backing Serbia, however, Moscow recently urged Belgrade to be ''constructive'' in responding to Ahtisaari's plan and turn up at the Vienna talks.

The United States has yet to say whether it would accept a brief delay, but visiting British minister Geoff Hoon said he believed Ahtisaari ''will view any such request sympathetically''.

Some in Kosovo are fed up with negotiations. Activists plan a Saturday protest saying the U.N plan does not go far enough.

Others think a few days will make no difference. The Kosovo daily Zeri said: ''Delay and procrastination was and is Belgrade's only negotiating strategy.'' REUTERS BDP PM2050