Tullamore, 19/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - EU foreign ministers noted the need to strengthen the EU's policy with regard to Kosovo at their meeting in Tullamore at the weekend. They reaffirmed that Kosovo has to respect the economic and political criteria set out in United Nations Resolution 1244 before the international community examines Kosovo's final status. The EU agreed to politically revitalise the idea of criteria before status, commented the President of the Council, Brian Cowen.
The final status of Kosovo will not be addressed until the criteria are assessed part way through 2005. At the moment, we must not speak too much of the final status, said EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana. One European diplomat commented that there was no question of giving the perpetrators of the violence carried out against Kosovan Serbs in March 2004 the idea that violence would speed up the adoption of the final status and that the final status would necessarily mean independence.
In the short term, the priorities set by the High Representative are to ensure that those who carried out the violence are apprehended and forced to make amends. A document prepared by Javier Solana's department for the Council meeting noted that the safety of minorities had to be rapidly restored along with the reconstruction of the thirty or so religious buildings and hundreds of private homes destroyed during the violence in March and the return of displaced persons. In order to counter those who carried out the violence, a visa ban on media encouraging violence may be established, based on similar measures for Macedonia, explains the Solana document.
Politically, Solana called for a stepping up of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and between Kosovan Serbs and Albanians. Moderate leaders must be made more credible, by considering a transfer of powers in return for decentralisation efforts. The decentralisation of powers to Kosovo should ensure the safety and protection of minorities and make it possible to rebuild a multiethnic Kosovo, stated Javier Solana. Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said that decentralisation could help the Serbs join the political process.
Various ministers from the new Member States said that the question of the final status of Kosovo had to be addressed to an extent, with the Slovenian minister Dimitrij Rupel quoted by a Slovenian press agency as saying that the policy of criteria before status was still alive, despite the latest events in Kosovo, but the question of the province's status had to be put on the table. Neither Serbs nor Albanians are interested in the status quo, he said, both parties wanting a final status. France, Germany and Belgium are reported to have called for a 'Europeanisation' of the region, saying that the prospects of joining the EU could dampen down the issue of independence or autonomy for Kosovo.
Following on from a document released by Javier Solana's department, various ministers questioned the effectiveness of the administration established by the UN, namely the UNMIK, calling for a stepping up of the international community's role on the ground. Kosovo is still a kind of test, a situation arising from the explosion of the Balkans against which the EU was powerless. We have learned the lessons, said French minister Michel Barnier. He added that the crisis was taking place in Europe and the EU therefore had particular responsibility for it. German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said that the EU was aware that the Balkans are the main priority for stability in the region and in Europe as a whole. Swedish minister Laila Freivals said it is our continent and they are our neighbours and the EU has to taken initiatives in order to bring order back to Kosovo, protect minorities and end violence. One diplomat commented that many people think that UNMIK has to be Europeanised because the Balkans are the EU's responsibility.
The document prepared by Javier Solana's department comments that the current UNMIK presence no longer meets current demands. It calls for a restructuring of UNMIK to give it a stronger role and stronger political leadership. It has to move, notes the document, from executive functions to strategic follow-up projections and redefine the role of the various international organisations involved in Kosovo.