http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_columns_100024_09/12/2005_6392
7
Kathimerini (Greece)
December 9, 2005
Independence foretold
By Stavros Lygeros
-Independence will turn Kosovo into an ethnically
homogeneous area and peace will be imposed by driving
out the Serb population.
Everything seems to indicate that the looming
negotiations for the future status of the contested
Kosovo province will be nothing more than a chronicle
of independence foretold.
The West rejects the Serbian more than autonomy, less
than independence formula. Instead, it proposes
conditional independence, meaning a strong military
presence in the area and a local government under
international monitoring.
Greece is worried that a quick solution without prior
fulfillment of the UN standards will destabilize the
broader region. The visit by Greek Foreign Minister
Petros Molyviatis, who is in charge of a regional
cooperation initiative, to Pristina and Belgrade was
supposed to underscore Greeces concerns and serve as
a reminder that regional governments want a say in the
status talks.
Washington, which has orchestrated the Wests
diplomatic efforts, wants to close this case by the
end of 2006. The main roadblock is Serbia, which has
no interest in rubber-stamping Kosovos de facto
partition. A deal without Belgrades signature will be
potentially unstable. This is obvious to the US but it
is reluctant to give the Serbs something in return.
Although Washington tried to sell Serbs the prospect
of EU membership, the mood in Brussels is not
promising.
The only realistic solution at the moment would be to
give Mitrovica, a Serb enclave in northeastern Kosovo,
to Belgrade and to promote the establishment of a
Serbian Orthodox Monastic Community (as proposed by
the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign
Policy, or ELIAMEP).
The US seems to favor the latter but objects to the
former because of the inviolability of borders.
Independence for Kosovo would run against this very
principle. Independence will turn Kosovo into an
ethnically homogeneous area and peace will be imposed
by driving out the Serb population.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
