BREMEN, Germany (AP) - The European Union on Friday failed to endorse a contentious plan to grant partial independence to Kosovo, the overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian province in Serbia.
“There are still some hesitations” about granting Kosovo internationally supervised independence, said Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitri Rupel, after an EU foreign ministers meeting.
The issue goes to the United Nations Security Council next week, where it may run into a veto from Russia.
Diplomats said Slovakia, Romania and Greece were not ready to approve the plan.
At the meeting, EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana and Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, briefed EU foreign ministers on the financial and security challenges facing Kosovo if it achieves internationally supervised statehood.
They asked EU governments to commit to sustained support for Kosovo in the years ahead in areas such as security, the economy and political reforms, diplomats said.
The two have previously warned that the Balkans could again be engulfed in violence akin to the wars in the 1990s during the breakup of Yugoslavia unless the future status of Kosovo is resolved quickly. The province of Serbia has been under U.N. administration since NATO launched airstrikes in 1999 to halt a Serb crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanian rebels.
But there is significant opposition to the plan for partial independence. Several EU countries, including Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus and Spain, oppose any plan to grant Kosovo independence against fierce Serbian opposition.
“We need to maintain and reinforce EU unity to get a resolution in the U.N. Security Council,” Rehn said before the start of the EU meeting in the German city of Bremen. “It is not Russia or the United States that will pay the price if there is violence.”
Russia and China also oppose the U.N. plan that would end Serbia’s sovereignty over the province.
A traditional ally of Belgrade, Moscow has implied it may veto the plan in the U.N. Security Council if it erodes Serbia’s interests. Serbia has labeled the U.N. plan illegitimate.
About 200,000 people are believed to have perished in a series of wars sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. The conflicts, which spread from Slovenia to Croatia, Bosnia and finally Kosovo, cost the international community an estimated US$110 billion dollars, two-thirds of which was paid directly or indirectly by EU member nations.
The U.N. Kosovo plan was drawn up by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.
It would grant the province of two million people - 90 percent of whom are ethnic Albanians - internationally supervised statehood and elements of independence including its own army, flag, anthem and constitution.
Serbia vehemently opposes the plan, and has warned it could set a precedent for other separatist regions across the world.
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It would be nice if the Albanians would be
pleased to stay in Serbia . If E U countries are
able to handle Security . I believe most Albanians would feel very relieved . This would be a big advantage for the Romma, Serbs , catholics And others that fear voilence from Wahhabi muslims .
Comment by eric — April 2, 2007 #