http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=673130b9-a3c 4-4e03-abe2-98ef60b7c78c
VANCOUVER SUN (CANADA) COMMENT The statelet of Kosovo is born as a dependent of the EU Jonathan Manthorpe Vancouver Sun Wednesday, March 05, 2008 The "unilateral declaration of independence" proclaimed by the little Balkan enclave of Kosovo two weeks ago is not the appropriate description of what happened. A "declaration of dependence" doesn't have the same ring to it, but that is what happened as the two million Muslim ethnic Albanian Kosovars sought to get out from under the authority of the government of Serbia in Belgrade. The price for Kosovo of ending the bloody marriage with Serbia is that this little statelet is now a dependent territory of the European Union. The EU has already pumped the equivalent of $2.7 billion into this mini-state, where the average annual income is $2,400, since Kosovo's relationship with Serbia turned terminally bloody in 1999. The EU has another $1.6 billion earmarked for Kosovo's development over the next two years, including the construction by Brussels of an entire judicial system and police force along accepted liberal European lines. At the same time, Kosovo's security, including dissuading Belgrade from trying to reassert control over what very many Serbs see as the homeland of their national and orthodox Christian culture, will be in the hands of the 16,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops stationed in the country. The prospects of Serbia -- the modern name for what is left of the old Yugoslavia -- trying to mount a re-absorption of Kosovo are slim. For sure, there was some rioting in Belgrade after Kosovo's declaration of independence on Feb. 17. Demonstrators did set fire to part of the United States embassy because Washington, along with European heavyweights Britain, France and Germany, had instantly recognized the new state. And there has been some trouble in Kosovo's northern border region, home to about 120,000 Serbs who are not optimistic about their future in the new statelet. >From the wider perspective, Russia and China, both of which have numerous ethnic groups within their borders that would love to do a Kosovo, have railed against the recognition of the new state as a breech of international law. Serbia's ally Russia has made it clear that if Kosovo attempts to join the United Nations, Moscow will use its Security Council permanent veto to block it. The air of crisis is further embellished by signs of a split among the EU's 27 members over Kosovo. France, Britain and Germany have recognized Kosovo, but EU members with turbulent ethnic minorities or some other form of separatist issues, such as Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Rumania and Slovakia, have not. The fence-sitters don't like the Kosovo precedent, yet it is crucial to note they did not block the EU's assumption of a lead role in Kosovo's future. All this apparent uncertainty masks the reality that the Kosovo agenda is actually going according to plan. The old Yugoslavia began to disintegrate in the decade after the death of dictator Josip Broz Tito in 1980. The Kosovars began a peaceful push for autonomy in 1990, but drew a violent response from the Belgrade government. This in turn led to attacks by the Kosovo Liberation Army and a round of violence, especially against civilians, that left thousands dead and about 250,000 people displaced. NATO forces intervened in 1999 and the United Nations imposed a mandate over Kosovo which has just run out. The EU has taken over the guardianship of Kosovo with NATO still providing protective muscle. The aim is that Kosovo will at some point join the EU, along with other former Yugoslav states such as Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and Macedonia. But Kosovo is a new venture for the EU, even though it is a logical extension of the post-Second World War development of the organization. A founding aim of the EU was to erase the destructive nationalism in European culture by creating a compelling, attractive economic club, but membership dues included donation of some sovereignty. In Kosovo the EU has the prospect of a new kind of member; an ethnic group in a quasi-state that is not independently sustainable. Devolution of autonomy to regional ethnic groups within member nation states is a cornerstone of EU policy. In Kosovo it's just being done the other way around because hatreds are still strong. But in all probability Serbia and Kosovo will be reunited one day as fellow EU members. Sun International Affairs Columnist [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:jmanthorpe%40png.canwest.com>
