Current developments in Kosovo are perhaps unavoidable. History proves that it is the people inhabiting a territory that ultimately determine the country's fate, unless there is armed intervention that decides otherwise. Fortunately, no-one wants another armed conflict. It is true that Kosovo was the cradle of the Serbian nation and religious monuments are testimony to this, but 90% of the current population have different origins, another culture or another religion. Thus spins the wheel of history. We could cite similar examples everywhere else. The most splendid examples of Arab art are in Spain and Sicily where other people now live with their cultures, languages and beliefs. At the same time, Arabs now live in the territory where ancient Egypt bequeathed the remains of a civilisation that flourished a few thousand years ago - and the people living there have become proud of these ancient relics. When these kinds of disturbances occur, the civilisations that follow have to respect those that preceded them, as well as their representatives. The fanaticism that led the Taliban to destroy sculptures of the ancient Buddha, which were thousands of years old, is unacceptable. Conclusion: evolution is inevitable but conditions have to be made clear and respected.
Conditions for independence. Independent Kosovo has to respect both the faith of the previous civilisation and the vestiges of this civilisation. It also has to respect the ethnic minorities living there and, in my opinion, the right of Serbs occupying the border zone to choose their future themselves (see this column the day before yesterday). As a country abiding by the rule of law, Kosovo has to have the ambition and dignity to become a self-sufficient state that can live from the work it performs and its organisation, not from subsidies and illegal trafficking. Economically, there's still everything left to play for. EU support is ensured, and that from other donors is planned, but efforts must, above all, be national. The EU will be deploying the most important external mission in its history by providing and funding police forces, judges, customs officials and tax experts. The resources and instruments Javier Solana has as High Representative of the CFSP and ESDP are far from sufficient; budgetary development aid resources for which the Commission is responsible, as well as member states' budgets, will largely have to be drawn upon. This is quite normal - solidarity has to play a role.
However, deadlines and limits are required that take into account the efforts and progress made by the Kosovar authorities and people. Bosnia-Herzegovina is not an example to follow from the points of view of the results obtained or the period for which it has received EU support. Analyses of the situation in Kosovo indicate the scale of the job ahead. According to various analyses, the country imports 14 times more goods than it exports and the economy is largely underground, indeed mafia-ridden; it only exploits a small part of its reserves in lignite, bauxite and nickel and its hydro-electric resources. Half of all those of working age are unemployed and there are regular power cuts. Such a description is at the same time depressing and encouraging: depressing because no significant progress has been observed since EU aid (ample amounts of it) has been channelled there since 1999, and encouraging because natural and human resources exist there. Broad support will be ensured over several years. A “donors' conference” will be organised in the summer by the European Commission and World Bank so that other countries and bodies can contribute to the efforts made. Ceilings and deadlines (three years for the EULEX mission), however, should be introduced and private investment should be earned on merit. The fight against drug trafficking (according to a high level source, 90% of the heroine arriving in Italy comes through Kosovo) has to be seriously tackled.
An example for dialogue with other cultures? Kosovo's accession to the EU as a full member should represent a historic turning point as the first Muslim member state of the Union. It is obvious that accession presupposes, as it does for any other candidate, respect for European principles, particularly those involving freedom of expression, religious freedom and respect for all other beliefs.
This would be a welcome revolution compared to the situation we often observe in countries that proclaim themselves Muslim. These countries have the right to behave as they so wish in their own countries. However, I doubt that the laws and practices such as the death penalty for apostasy or violent reactions against a member state whose press published a number of cartoons, would be compatible with European principles. Kosovo may provide the proof that a 90% Muslim population accepts and practices freedom of expression, religious freedom and freedom as a whole. This would mean that the “dialogue of cultures” spoken about would be much more effective and real than that invoked at certain university conferences and debates.
(F.R.)