EU politics - a puzzle that spreads even more
It was in December 2011 that Serbian president Boris Tadic stated that demands were made of Serbia to recognize the independence of Kosovo as a condition for Serbia to achieve the status of a candidate for EU accession.
Boris Tadic also said that Serbia would not be recognising Kosovo as independent State (Republic). This came after the long hunt for alleged Serbian war criminals Ratko Mladic (for war crimes in Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Goran Hadzic (for war crimes in Croatia) had mysteriously ended in 2011 when both men were found in Serbia, having been “hiding” there for years.
On Friday 24 February an agreement on regional cooperation had been reached between Serbia and Kosovo .
They appear to have finally agreed on a seemingly complex deal by which Kosovo can represent itself (instead of being represented by UN mission) at regional forums/talks without the risk of Serbians walking out or boycotting. The deal includes the condition that Kosovo drop the “Republic” part of its name and refers to itself as plain Kosovo! Also, Kosovo will appear at talks with a footnote referring both to UN Resolution 1244 and the opinion of the International Court of Justice, ICJ, on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
More precisely, the footnote will read: “This label [ie “Kosovo”] does not prejudge the status of Kosovo and is in accordance with Resolution 1244 and the opinion of the ICJ on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.”
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 (June 1999) paved the way to Kosovo’s independence. It required Serbia to remove security forces (from Kosovo).
This deal or agreement has been praised across the world including EU and U.S.A. Croatian president Ivo Josipovic has also stated he thinks that this is a good deal.
According to New York Times, in Pristina (capital of Kosovo) emotions are running high and public irritation at the deal is the order of the day. Kosovars feel used and as a tool to get Serbia closer to EU candidacy status.
It is disappointing, to say the least, that Josipovic did not take advantage of this odd occurrence and reminded the EU that their criteria for EU candidacy is slipping, badly. That Kosovo’s independence may be heading for extinction before its crowning was complete. I mean, even a blind person can see that the deal is nothing more than finding a trick by which Serbia can circumvent the recent reported requirements of recognising Kosovo as independent State.
This way, Serbia is most likely going to receive the green light as EU candidate and still retain the option to fight against Kosovo’s independence.
We need to only remember that in 1995 Croatia was punished by EU for liberating Krajina from Serb occupation in Operation Storm. EU cooperation and PHARE assistance program suspended, EU insisted that there was excessive shelling, that Franjo Tudjman was a nationalist … It took years after that for Croatia to return to the EU membership negotiation path.
No one is calling Boris Tadic a nationalist!
Head of the Serbian government’s team for dialogue with Pristina Borislav Stefanovic stated, immediately, after the meeting in Brussels February 24 where an interim agreement on regional cooperation (cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo) has been reached that Serbia will never recognise Kosovo’s proclaimed independence.
90 countries have so far recognised Republic of Kosovo as an independent state since its declaration of independence in February 2008. This includes Croatia, U.S.A., Australia, 22 out of 27 member states of the European Union. And now it is “forbidden” to be the Republic of Kosovo, it must call itself Kosovo! What happens to the office of the President of Republic of Kosovo? Is she (Atifete Jahjaga) still a president, or what?
I suppose not many countries that have yet to recognise the independence of Kosovo will bother any more. If the EU accepts this appalling deal for Kosovo it’s logical to conclude that it will accept and justify in some warped way any future move to tear up Kosovo’s declaration of independence Serbia might take upon itself to do for the Serbian nation. This Friday February 24 deal from Brussels does not recognise nor respect Kosovo’s plight for full independence, it just buys time for Serbia to do anything it wants. A shameful political manipulation of huge proportions – at the expense of Kosovo’s people. Ina Vukic, Prof.(Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)
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Agree with your statement. Croatia rushed to the EU and could have got a better deal if they did not rush so much.Our government is not experienced enough to have rush into this with out looking more closely at what was going on. Tragically Serbia will go to war with Kosovo again even if they are in the EU it is just a matter of time.
One of the other things I failed to mention is that The EU is worried that if Serbia does not go to the EU then Russia will be it’s partner and I believe the EU is trying to limit the role of Russia in the region.
Indeed!
Croatia should have developed Sovereign policy of neutrality like Switzerland. It could have negotiated free-trade or fair trade agreements with the EU and/or individual countries. NATO is fine, but EU membership is not worth it when viable and prosperous alternatives exist. The problem is that there is no alternative vision in Croatia. The EU No forces did not have a credible platform or vision; saying NO to something means you are saying yes to something else – like the status quo. No to EU lacked what the affirmative to the NO was; no EU, really meant yes to the status quo.
Agree with you Sunamn 100% the problem is all Croatia was told is about the monies they would receive in the EU. The route of Switzerland would have been much better but there was much pressure on Croatia not to go that route because the EU would not be able to rob our resources and put us in debt like Greece to manipulate us if we went the Switzerland route.