EU foreign ministers warned Kosovo's leaders on Monday not to rush into a declaration of independence, fearing such a move could destabilise the Balkans.
Several EU foreign ministers urged Kosovo on Monday (November 19th) to delay plans for a unilateral declaration of independence, voicing concern about the potential impact of such a move on regional stability.
"We are doing all we can to persuade the Kosovars not to make a unilateral declaration," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said in Brussels, after a meeting of the 27-nation bloc's top diplomats. "A unilateral declaration would be quite, quite bad. There's a certain explosiveness in this region."
His warning followed Saturday's parliamentary elections in Kosovo, which the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) won with 34% of the vote. PDK leader Hashim Thaci, who is expected to become the province's next prime minister, pledged that Kosovo would proclaim independence immediately after December 10th, when the ongoing internationally-mediated talks on the province's future status will end.
"Kosovo should have her independence, but it shouldn't be an unmanaged, unilateral declaration -- it should be one that is co-ordinated with the international community," Britain's minister of state for Europe, Jim Murphy, told reporters in Brussels.
Technically still part of Serbia, Kosovo has been under UN administration since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict in the province.
The negotiations on Kosovo's future began in February 2006 and have thus far failed to bridge the gap between Belgrade and Pristina's positions on the status issue. Insisting on retaining some sovereignty over the province, Serbia is offering substantial autonomy, while the Kosovo Albanians say they will not agree to anything other than full independence.
"In 100 days we've explored almost every humanly known option of squaring the circle of Kosovo status," Wolfgang Ischinger, the EU representative in the international troika currently mediating the talks between the two sides, said on Monday. "The troika process, even if it were terminated today, has not been window dressing. It was a genuine and intense negotiating process."
The EU remains split over Kosovo's future and the bloc's possible response to a unilateral declaration of independence by Pristina. Murphy was quoted as saying Monday that "well above 20" member states support independence for the province.
Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain have expressed reservations about independence, however, fearing such a move could encourage similar bids in other countries.
Some are also concerned that a declaration of independence by the Kosovo Albanians would prompt a similar move by ethnic Serbs in the province's north. Bosnian Serbs have also threatened to call an independence referendum in Republika Srpska if Kosovo is allowed to secede.
Citing UN and European sources, the British daily The Guardian reported on Tuesday (November 20th) that the EU and the United States would offer Kosovo prompt recognition of independence, sometime in January. (SETimes)
No comments:
Post a Comment