Lambros, stunned that you're this early in the briefing.
QUESTION: Mr. McCormack, in the gathering yesterday with the participation
too of American Ambassador Frank Wisner, organized by the European Institute, we
heard in a statement of the policy on Kosovo and the reiteration of the standard
position about the inviolability of the Balkan borders. At the same time, we
heard the official Albanian position that asserts no borders will be respected
if Kosovo is not granted independence. Therefore I'm wondering would the
Department of State reconsider its position concerning autonomy for the Greek
minority of northern Epirus, E-p-i-r-u-s? As you would be aware, Mr. McCormack,
the Greek former Prime Minister in the 1990s linked the status of Kosovo with
northern Epirus; moreover, the Greeks in northern Epirus was the only Balkan
minority whose autonomy was recognized by the League of Nation and actually was
used as a precondition for the recognition of Albania itself in 1921 by the
League of Nations.
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, with regards to Kosovo, you rightly point out that
Ambassador Wisner, who is working actively with Mr. Ahtisaari as well as other
members of the international community just on the question of the status of
Kosovo. There's not an answer to that question yet. And I know that they're
working hard and they seek to come up with an answer by the end of this year.
Now, in terms of the status of the citizens, the individuals who live in
north Epirus, I'm going to have to dig pretty deep in the bureaucracy for that
one, for an answer to that one. But if -- we'll try to get you an answer on
that.
QUESTION: Excellent. Any readout on the completion of the second round of
talks April 3rd in Vienna for the status of Kosovo?
MR. MCCORMACK: I know that the talks continue and they haven't come up with a
final statement of what their suggested solution is yet. We continue to work on
it.
QUESTION: And do you know the purpose of the -- today's meeting between
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense for the United
Kingdom John Reid, which recently is taking place with official visit of the
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw in Tehran, Albania?
MR. MCCORMACK: I wouldn't necessarily think the connection between those two
visits. The U.K. Minister of Defense is here in town. He's going to be having a
meeting with Secretary Rumsfeld. Secretary Rice is going to see him for about 20
minutes or so, scheduled for about 20 minutes this afternoon. They have a lot of
different issues to talk about. They'll talk about NATO-related issues, they'll
talk about Iraq, and anything else that happens to be on the Minister's mind.
QUESTION: What about Balkans or Kosovo?
MR. MCCORMACK: I don't know that it will come up, but if it does, the
Secretary will certainly be prepared to talk to the Minister about it.
