Belgrade - Serbian President Boris Tadic Tuesday said that he was not planning to propose a partition of the breakaway Kosovo, but neither did he rule the idea out, while authorities in Pristina angrily did. "Partition is being discussed in Serbia and the international community and it has been one of the options during all these years," Tadic told an evening press conference. "That option I can consider only when all other options are spent."
As Serbian president, Tadic has limited formal authority, but as the leader of the pro-European ruling coalition, in power since May elections, he is the actual speaker for Serbia.
"I will reiterate the position and policy of Serbia regarding Kosovo," he said. "Serbia does not and will never recognize Kosovo's independence."
Tadic initially floated the idea of partition, which has been mentioned on the margins of futile negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade over the past few years, in an interview Monday.
Kosovo, with its vastly dominant Albanian population, declared independence from Serbia in February.
While quickly recognized by leading Western nations, the promotion Pristina had hoped for in the United Nations and snowballing international recognition were blocked by Serbia's powerful ally Russia.
Serbia insists that Kosovo is its heartland soil and has launched an initiative at the United Nations to send the issue of its independence to the International Court of Justice. The UN General Assembly was to vote on the initiative on October 8.
The government in Pristina, dominated by Albanians and boycotted by minority Serbs, meanwhile declared the issue closed and is seeking support from more countries than the 47 that have recognized it so far.
"Our message to all those who profess partitioning Kosovo is that they have lost Kosovo for ever," the Kosovo parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
