Arifi on Friday described Drnovsek's proposal as a suggestion for the establishment of conditional independence of Kosovo, which he said was what they had requested.
On Thursday, the President of Slovenia, which is the current chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), presented his proposal for the solution to Kosovo's issue in the letters he sent to member-states of the Contact Group for Kosovo, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Drnovsek proposes a five-year period during which Kosovo would gain "its international and legal status" provided that the international community establishes that democratic standards and inter-ethnic coexistence are guaranteed in the area.
In that period, international peace forces would remain in the province but their number would be cut.
Drnovsek also proposes that the European Union in cooperation with international monetary institutions should prepare plans for the economic recovery of Kosovo so that it could be independent in economic terms, too.
Drnovsek's proposal elicited strong criticism in Serbia-Montenegro whose President Svetozar Marovic cancelled Drnovsek's visit to Belgrade, scheduled for 2 November.
The Slovene President immediately sent his foreign affairs advisor Ivo Vajgl to Belgrade to defuse the situation. However, according to Vajgl's statement after his talks with Serbia-Montenegro's Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic today, it did not seem that he managed to prevent further worsening of relations between Belgrade and Ljubljana.
Vjagl admitted that Serbia-Montenegro's position remained tough towards Drnovsek's proposal.
According to the Slovene news agency STA, Drnovsek has said that negative reactions to his proposal both in Kosovo and in Belgrade could be interpreted as a sign that his proposal was good as it presented a compromise "or the closest common denominator".
"Despite negative reactions, my proposal is an absolutely legitimate contribution of Slovenia to the solution of the issue of Kosovo," Drnovsek said adding that he had been dealing with this problem since 1989.