euro|topics - Kosovo declares independence

Main focus of Monday, February 18, 2008

Kosovo declares independence

On 17 February 2008, Kosovo declared independence. EU member countries have different views about whether the new country should be recognised. What is the impact of this development on the region and within Europe?

Libération - France

For the editorialist François Sergent, the proclamation of Kosovo's independence "is not without risk. For the region, first of all, where the creation of this microstate, the size of two French departments, without the least economic viability, and extremely corrupted, risks losing its balance. Europe is vouching for the fate reserved for the province's Serb minority, but also for the 'Egyptians' and Romas, who are hounded and humiliated by the Albanians. What durable solution can Europe guarantee them? Europe has set a precedent that may well haunt this Union, which is intended to overcome nationalism for a long time. The Flemish, Catalans, Basques and Corsicans have been given a perfect opportunity to denounce the double standards of Europe which, since the beginning of former Yugoslavia's dismantlement, has shown neither vigilance, nor unity, nor, consistence." (18/02/2008)

Népszabadság - Hungary

Gábor Miklós comments: "Given earlier UN decisions, this independence is legally disputable. But it will be considered valid, and the majority of the world will accept the fact that two million Albanians no longer want to live within the bounds of Serbia. Ultimately, Serbian Serbs at the most want to go back to Kosovo as nostalgia tourists, anyway. It is promising… that the politicians in Belgrade have announced they would not resort to force. Perhaps they really have understood that their country can only gain strength through this amputation, and that Serbia without Kosovo will move closer to Europe." (18/02/2008)

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

"Belgrade has suffered a series of painful defeats. The Yugoslavia built by Tito has collapsed. Montenegro, which hung on the longest, split from Serbia in 2006. And now Kosovo has taken the same step," writes Cyrill Stieger. But he sees "Serbia's chance for a new start with the loss of Kosovo - even if leading politicians and a large segment of the intellectual elite see things differently and feel they've been abused by the west yet again. Kosovo was always the foreign body in the Serbian state – and a heavy burden. Now, Belgrade can finally free itself from this disastrous fixation on the so-called national question. It can shake loose once and for all this inheritance of Milosevic, and put all its energy into tackling economic and social problems. Stubborn resistance only leads to isolation." (18/02/2008)

Polityka Online - Poland

Adam Szostkiewic thinks EU recognition of Kosovan independence would be a positive signal to Muslims. "The warnings that recognition of Kosovo would encourage separatists in Spain, Belgium, Slovakia or Romania are not convincing. The context there is different. … Recognition is not to be seen as tantamount to the anti-Serbianism that some are fed at their mother's breast, nor should it be considered a congenital rejection of the Orthodox Church or of Russia. In this case, there are other key considerations, including the fact that Kosovo bears a Muslim stamp. A gesture of support for its independence, by Europe and the USA, would have an important political impact: We don't believe in the war of the west against the Islamic world. Welcome!" (18/02/2008)

El País - Spain

Andrés Ortega is concerned about the future of this new state. "Beyond the declaration of independence, it has to be said that Kosovo finds itself in a state of dependency. 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 that is worthy of its name. ... This independence is a European failure, no doubt not the last, for there still remain many problems to be resolved in this long and bloody dismembering of the former Yugoslavia, of which the separate parts, paradoxically, wish, in a future of interdependence, to unite in a European Union that is gradually being filled with small, ethnically homogenous states. ... So a new dependent state has been born in Europe. That's nothing to be proud of." (18/02/2008)

» To the complete press review of Monday, February 18, 2008

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