A full 18 years since the beginning of direct negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina with the mediation of the international community on the status of Kosovo and Meohija
That 20.02.2006. in Vienna's Daun Kinski Palace, the Serbian and Albanian delegations first had separate short and protocol meetings with the UN special representative, Marti Ahtisaari, and a little later a direct meeting between the two delegations.
The topics of the negotiations behind closed doors were: decentralization (connection of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija and formation of special ties with Serbia), competences in education, health, cultural heritage and cultural autonomy.
During the 20-minute presentation itself, which was allotted to each side, the Albanian team, led by Ljutfi Haziri, presented the proposal that decentralization in Kosovo* should be started only when its status is resolved, and that health and education in the areas where the Serbs have a majority, falls under the jurisdiction of the Kosovo* Ministries of Education and Health and Family.
The Serbian side, led by the adviser to the then prime minister, Slobodan Samardžić, requested that the issues of decentralization be resolved first, and only then should the status be resolved.
The green light for the start of status negotiations was given by the then President of Serbia, Boris Tadić, after attending a parliamentary session on the subject of Kosovo and Metohija at the end of January 2006.
For the sake of truth, Serbia started the Vienna negotiations after the expulsion of more than 200,000 Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, horrific crimes in Stari Gradcko, Livadice near Podujevo, the three-day ethnically motivated March violence against Serbs, the horrific massacre of the Stolić family, kidnappings, rapes and individual murders of Serbian civilians. like those in the center of Pristina when Professor Bašić was killed in front of KFOR and his mother-in-law and wife were in a coma from being beaten...
Serbia started negotiations despite the clear report of the Norwegian diplomat Kai Ejde submitted to the United Nations, in which he clearly pointed out that in Kosovo * none of the 10 standards set before the status settlement was met.
From them until 2008, several versions of Ahtisaari's plan were on the table until the final one for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
