Stefan Kornelius on Europe as a leitmotiv for the Balkan countries

In the UN Security Council, USA, Britain and France have put forward a revised plan for the future of the Serbian province of Kosovo, but Russia is continuing to exercise its veto. But Stefan Kornelius firmly believes in independence for Kosovo - no matter when it comes. "The Kosovo conflict is not frozen. It is subject to its own dynamics, because the prospect of an end to the Balkan conflicts is looming after one and a half decades of painful separatist wars. Statehood is a necessary, but also temporary station on this path. Temporary because ultimately the patch of land that is Kosovo has as little chance of prospering as places like Macedonia or Montenegro in the long term. Only slowly are people in the Balkans coming to the realisation that a region as religiously and ethnically divided as the Balkans can only function if it adopts a common leitmotiv. This leitmotiv has a name: Europe. Only the prospect of closeness to or even membership in the European Union will bring stability."

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