Ashton: Kosovo-Serbia solution close

A deal to normalise ties between Serbia and Kosovo is close and could be sealed next month, the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, following high-level talks in Brussels. "I think we are very close to a solution on the most difficult issues," Ashton told a press conference on Wednesday, after talks in Brussels with Serb Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and his Kosovar counterpart Hashim Thaci. The two men will meet again on April 2 for a "conclusive meeting", Ashton added. Kosovo, where the majority are ethnic Albanians, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The move has since been recognised by around 100 countries, including the United States and most EU member states, but fiercely rejected by Belgrade and the Serb minority living in Kosovo. The fate of the 40,000-strong Serb minority in northern Kosovo which refuses to recognise Pristina's authority is key to a deal. Belgrade has de facto lost its authority in Kosovo -- except in the northern part -- since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign forced its troops out of the territory.The Alliance air war was launched to end the repression of the regime of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic on the independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. Both sides have agreed to establish an association of Serb municipalities but lack agreement on its powers. Pristina refuses to grant it the executive and judicial power demanded by Belgrade. Concrete progress in the talks has been set by Brussels as the key condition to both sides to move on towards EU membership. At the end of Wednesday's lengthy talks, the leaders of the two neighbours gave a more measured summation of the situation than Ashton. "I cannot say if we are far or close to a solution" because "things keep changing," Dacic told reporters in Brussels. "There are still some differences," he cautioned while insisting the Serb side was ready to make compromises as "we really want to find a solution to these problems" which "have been torturing us for the last century." Thaci said: "We are on the right direction. We expect to come up with solutions in the next few days." Ashton paid tribute to the conciliatory efforts of the two leaders, highlighted by their agreement to share a plane on Thursday to New York where they will brief the United Nations on the state of the negotiations. The two sides have already agreed, in December, a deal on the sensitive issue of border crossing for the Serbs in northern Kosovo.