EU seeks to avert split on Kosovo future
By Mark John
Reuters
Thursday, September 6, 2007; 7:27 AM
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will try to avert a damaging split over
Kosovo on Friday when foreign ministers debate how to respond to a possible
unilateral declaration of independence by the breakaway Serbian province.
They are acutely aware that 16 years after Europeans failed to prevent war in
their Balkan backyard, a rift over how to resolve the intractable dispute would
deal a blow to the credibility of the bloc's emerging common foreign policy.
Leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority have vowed to declare independence
if a new set of last-ditch talks with Belgrade fail to produce an agreement by
a December 10 deadline.
That prospect will dominate talks in the Portuguese town of Viana do Castelo on
Friday where ministers will be briefed by Wolfgang Ischinger, the German EU
mediator in the negotiations who has already warned that chances of a deal are
slim.
"He has suggested member states should be considering how to maintain unity
post-December 10," a diplomat said after Ischinger gave an initial assessment
to EU ambassadors on Wednesday.
Along with the United States, the 27-member EU would prefer an agreement
between Serbs and Albanians that was backed by a U.N. Security Council mandate.
If that proves impossible because of resistance from Serbia, backed by U.N.
veto-holder Russia
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/russia.html?nav=el> ,
member states would have to decide whether to recognize Kosovo sovereignty.
Spain, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania are among those seen
having most difficulty in doing so, either because of their geographical
proximity to the Balkans or due to fears it could encourage separatists in
their own country.
Germany
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could also struggle to explain to domestic critics why its troops should remain
as part of the NATO-led peace force in Kosovo without a new U.N. mandate,
diplomats say.
"It's too early (for decisions). We still have a lot of time before December 10
although a lot of countries are starting to think it (a compromise) won't
happen," said a second EU envoy.
The position of the EU could prove vital. Diplomats working on Kosovo believe
the province's leadership would only make a unilateral declaration with support
from Washington -- which in turn would like to see the EU follow suit.
Serb Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic gave no indication of a change in Belgrade's
opposition to Kosovo independence at meetings with EU and NATO officials in
Brussels on Wednesday, urging Kosovo leaders to halt threats of unilateral
action.
He rejected an independence formula under which the small, Serb-dominated north
of Kosovo would stay in Serbia -- a partition the EU says it could back if both
parties approved.
An EU split over Kosovo recognition could prevent the EU sending police and
officials to take over law enforcement and supervisory duties from the United
Nations.
The bloc plans to launch an 1,850-strong rule of law mission, the largest in EU
history, that would take responsibility for key tasks such as riot control,
border monitoring and helping reform the judiciary and prison service.
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090600408.html
