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Kosovo: A New State in Europe

On 17 February 2008 Kosovo declared its independence. Several European countries, including Germany and Britain, have already recognised the new state. Others categorically refuse to do so.

It was a long awaited historical moment: "We, the democratically elected leaders of our people, declare Kosovo an independent and sovereign state", Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaci, proclaimed to the Kosovo parliament on 17 February 2008. That same day he asked the world's governments to recognise the new state.

Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu (right) and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
Photo: AP

The EU was unable to reach agreement on a common foreign policy towards Kosovo. Therefore each country decided for itself what line to adopt towards the new state. Germany, France and Britain quickly recognised Kosovo, but Bulgaria hesitated and Cyprus categorically refused to grant recognition, on the grounds that Kosovo could set a precedent for other regions and minorities striving for independence.

The new state's lack of legitimacy is regarded as problematic. Although the "massive human rights violations of 1998-1999 created a just cause for Kosovo's independence ... in the absence of agreement from Serbia and United Nations sanctions, the recognition of independence is not entirely legitimate" Thomas Ferenczi commented on 22 February 2008 in the French daily Le Monde.

State integrity versus the right to self-determination

Indeed UN-Resolution 1244 explicitly left Serbia's territorial integrity inviolate. The resolution has been in force since the end of the Kosovo war and to this day provides the legal basis for the UN mission that has been administrating Kosovo for the past eight years. Thus, in denouncing the declaration as an illegal act, the Serbian government was able to cite this resolution. Moreover, many international law experts also believe that the international community is treading on shaky legal ground in recognising Kosovo's independence.

The Luxembourg journalist David Broman argued on 21 February 2008 in the weekly Le Jeudi against "rushing through" recognition of an independent Kosovo: "Europeans are well aware that every violation of international law is a blow to UN authority. It is one thing for the US, privileged by the law of the strongest, to act without the support of international law. But on issues of international politics, Europeans only have (aside from the bait that the promise of EU accession represents), the 'weapon' of respecting the law."

Advocates of recognition, on the other hand, point to the right of self-determination of the Kosovo Albanians. Whether on account of the massive violations of human rights under the regime of Slobodan Milosevic this should be accorded priority over Serbia's claim to territorial integrity is an issue "of eternal controversy: however you look at it ... the power of the facts is too great to be able to turn back the wheel of history," Cyrill Stieger commented on 17 February 2008 in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Kosovo as a precedent?

Criticism has come above all from the countries that have so far not recognised Kosovo as an independent state because they fear a domino effect for other conflict regions. These countries include Spain, Rumania, Slovakia and Cyprus. Writing in the Spanish newspaper El Pais on 19 February, Ignacio Camacho saw Kosovo's independence as setting a precedent that could in future be used by all secessionist movements: "From now on, any creeping nationalism, however fanatic it may or may not be, knows that should it declare independence, France, Germany, and even the Yankees are quite capable not only of looking the other way for reasons of strategic convenience, but of actually giving their consent or blessing."

Eliza Francu cited a number of such potential cases in the Rumanian daily Gandul on 18 February: "Regions that might feel justified in claiming the same: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transdnistria, the Basque country. The list could be continued until shortly before Bucharest."

Economic consolidation

For Kosovo declaring independence is just the beginning, Agron Bajrami, chief editor of the Kosovo newspaper Koha Ditore, observed in an article for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on 22 February. The era of the fight for freedom has come to an end and now the struggle is beginning "for a new Kosovo, a Kosovo that is not only geographically an independent European state but politically, socially and culturally as well."

In view of the disastrous economic situation, the poor education system, the instable political institutions and the continuing ethnic tensions this is a huge task where the young state cannot be left to its own devices, as Andrés Ortega wrote in El Pais on 8 February: "The country is neither ready, nor viable. Kosovo needs international help on every level – economic, military, police and administrative – to survive and be transformed into a state worthy of the name."

In fact Kosovo now has an international administrator, the Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith, who has the authority to annul laws and dismiss politicians. In addition, some 2,200 public prosecutors, judges, policemen and EU administrative officials are to form a police and justice mission under the name Eulex. They will be supported by 17,000 soldiers from the Kosovo Enforcement Force (KFOR), which will continue to be stationed in the province. As Southeast Europe expert Norbert Mappes-Niediek wrote in Die Zeit on 16 February, "If one takes a closer look," an independent Kosovo is "simply the birth of a third European semi-protectorate in the Balkans – the third after the unfortunate case of Bosnia, and Albania, which is subjected to strict tutelage."

It is still not at all clear what the legal mechanism will be for the UN to transfer responsibility to the new EU mission. However, it is already evident that the main challenge will be consolidating the economy, which currently, as Thomas Muster wrote in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on 14 February 2008, "does little to inspire confidence."

Among the state's two million inhabitants 40 percent of the population is unemployed. The average monthly income is 250 euros. At the same time, with an average age of twenty-five Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe and the continent's highest birth rate. Every year between thirty and forty thousand people enter a labour market that can offer them little prospect, for "in view of the volatile political environment and widespread corruption, foreign investors have shown little interest in making a major commitment," Muster wrote in the NZZ.

Danger of ethnic division

The continuing ethnic tensions, which run counter to the new republic's claim to be a multi-cultural society, are a further problem. Albanians, Serbs and Roma at best lead parallel lives in societies isolated from one another. The former Czechoslovak foreign minister and UN human rights official for the Balkans Jiří Dienstbier showed little optimism about the future of Kosovo as a modern civil society: "The term 'Kosovan' sounds multi-ethnic. But in Kosovo itself, no one calls himself a Kosovan. Rather, they identify themselves as Albanians, Serbs, Turks or Roma."

Ethnic divisions are likely to become more profound. The Serbs in Kosovo have announced they do not wish to cooperate with the new EU administration and are beginning – with the help of Belgrade – to establish parallel institutions. Thus a situation that the international community sought to avoid is threatening to become reality: ethnic division and new conflicts.

Dialogue with Belgrade?

The Serbian government has called a halt to its process of rapprochement with the EU. Even if many EU politicians repeatedly emphasise that they wish to integrate Serbia – and Kosovo – into the EU in the long term, one of the main tasks for the future is, as the Swedish daily Dahens Nyheter (http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=573&a=745132) wrote on 22 February 2008, "to establish dialogue with Belgrade." That the EU has so far neglected to do this has for Nikos Konstandaras, writing in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini on 11 February, been the real failure of EU foreign policy, for it ran the risk of driving the most important country in the Balkans into isolation: "European politicians who insist that Serbia accept the loss of Kosovo and instead offer it the prospect of EU membership don't seem to care what happens to the Serbs."

It is scarcely possible to predict how things will develop. But one thing can be said for certain, Cyrill Stieger wrote in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "The task awaiting the EU mission will be a delicate and prolonged one."

Dirk Auer

Dirk Auer studied social sciences and subsequently became a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Universiy of Oldenburg. He currently lives in Sofia ...
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