Europe's first colony

According to the weekly Freitag, since its unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008 Kosovo has been administrated as if it were an international protectorate, making it Europe's first colony. "If in the summer of 2008 you set up the authorities that have a share in controlling little Kosovo in hierarchical order you get the following structure: at the very top you have the accumulated military power of KFOR, a Nato-led occupying force. ... Under it are the UN administration mission UNMIK and the two EU missions, the International Civil Office (ICO) and the European Union Rule of Law mission (EULEX). Then come the Kosovo-Albanian government and the Serb authorities in Belgrade, which in effect represent their respective ethnic groups but are subordinate to the colonial structures that have multiplied since the unilateral [declaration of] independence. ... UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon thinks it's necessary to preserve the UN's authority wherever possible by uniting two irreconcilable positions - the yes and the no to Kosovo's independent state status - under the auspices of the UN. On the other hand Brussels is using this confusion to present the world with a fait accompli. The bureaucrats in Brussels would not let the trifling matter of the formal preservation of a UN framework under UN Resolution 1244, which recognises Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo, bother them. ... [So] without further ado Europe has set its sights on establishing a colonial territory in southeast Europe."

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