In 1999 Yugoslavia lost a war provoked by NATO that, at the time, sustained the irredentists of Albanian nationality, in their rejection of Serbian domination in Kosovo - a multi-ethnic region in the Republic of Serbia which contained a Albanian majority. The Albanian leaders demanded nothing less than full Kosovo independence, i.e a new nation-state with an Albanian population. However, Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, which was imposed with the aid of international forces in order to stop hostilities, legitimized the military occupation of the region under UN supervision. However, while it did not take away sovereignty from the Republic of Serbia, it did make it impossible for Serbia to administer the territory. This anomalous juridical status was maintained until the beginning of 2008. A civil administration of the region was provided, which was theoretically open to all the nationalities which lived in it and moved towards multi-ethnic cohabitation - the first step towards any kind of decision regarding the future juridical condition of Kosovo. However, this never happened. The Albanian majorority acts in a way that allows the other nationalities to stay there just because of the protection of international forces. This became very evident with a violent program that happened in March 2004, when 19 Serbs were killed and many medieval sacred buildings of great historical and identity importance for the Serbs, were burned. Among the troika that today holds in their hands the future of the region, two support each of the opponents. One is the United States of America, supporting the Albanian Kosovars, and ready to recognize the independence of the region as soon as it will be declared. Such a result would allow the USA to reinforce even more its military and strategic presence in Europe, because of the approval they would gain among the Albanian population in Kosovo. The other is Russia, who is the traditional protector of Serbia, and defender of its territorial integrity, which among other things has also been sealed by Resolution 1244. According to Moscow, to recognize unilateral independence declared by the Albanians, raises some important questions. Apart from breaking international law that allows the formation of a new state only with all parties involved giving their consent, it would establish a serious precedent that would encourage nationalist secessionism in many other parts of the world. On the other hand, the European Union, the third member of the troika, is internally divided and is incapable of expressing an agreed foreign policy. Some countries, such as Germany, are aligned with the USA’s position, and would recognise immediately an independent Kosovo; others are afraid that it could start a “domino effect” among the potentially secessionist nationalities that live inside their territories, and are therefore opposing such an option. So the European Union which, among other things, is considered to be the biggest economic power in the world, failed to resolve a crisis that begun in a small region in the very heart of the continent. The Union never used the only valid weapon it had; in my personal opinion - a rapid integration into its structures of the countries of the so-called Western Balkans. This solution would have suffocated nationalist initiatives in states such as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, because it would have shown the benefits of a multi-national and multi-ethnic society that existed between states integrated into European structures. On the contrary, the Western Balkans still are a sort of a “black hole” in the continent, part of “an Europe that is not Europe”, and isolated – even economically – from the rest of the world. A predictable consequence of the recognition of Kosovo’s independence would be the detachment of a part of the region, north from the river Ibar, that is inhabited exclusively by Serbs that recognize themselves in Belgrade’s Serbia. Such a result would not appear as a secession, because without contradicting the will of those involved and living there, it would also respect Resolution 1244. However, it would compromise the destiny of the non-Albanian communities that still exist in central Kosovo, inevitably leading towards an exodus – voluntary or not – from the region. If such a scenario should occur, the failure of the European Union could not be more complete. Not only would it appear as incapable of integrating its own communities with a proposal of collective identity from a juridical point of view, that would make anachronistic every insistence upon nationalit rivalries, but it would also be responsible for a further political fragmentation of the continent, breaking some of the fundamental international laws.

The Kosovo status and the European Union: the failure of a multi-ethnic region project / A. Violante. ((Intervento presentato al convegno Nationalism, Ethnicity and Citizenship: Whose Citizens? Whose Rights? tenutosi a Guildford, Surrey (UK) nel 2008.

The Kosovo status and the European Union: the failure of a multi-ethnic region project

A. Violante
Primo
2008

Abstract

In 1999 Yugoslavia lost a war provoked by NATO that, at the time, sustained the irredentists of Albanian nationality, in their rejection of Serbian domination in Kosovo - a multi-ethnic region in the Republic of Serbia which contained a Albanian majority. The Albanian leaders demanded nothing less than full Kosovo independence, i.e a new nation-state with an Albanian population. However, Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, which was imposed with the aid of international forces in order to stop hostilities, legitimized the military occupation of the region under UN supervision. However, while it did not take away sovereignty from the Republic of Serbia, it did make it impossible for Serbia to administer the territory. This anomalous juridical status was maintained until the beginning of 2008. A civil administration of the region was provided, which was theoretically open to all the nationalities which lived in it and moved towards multi-ethnic cohabitation - the first step towards any kind of decision regarding the future juridical condition of Kosovo. However, this never happened. The Albanian majorority acts in a way that allows the other nationalities to stay there just because of the protection of international forces. This became very evident with a violent program that happened in March 2004, when 19 Serbs were killed and many medieval sacred buildings of great historical and identity importance for the Serbs, were burned. Among the troika that today holds in their hands the future of the region, two support each of the opponents. One is the United States of America, supporting the Albanian Kosovars, and ready to recognize the independence of the region as soon as it will be declared. Such a result would allow the USA to reinforce even more its military and strategic presence in Europe, because of the approval they would gain among the Albanian population in Kosovo. The other is Russia, who is the traditional protector of Serbia, and defender of its territorial integrity, which among other things has also been sealed by Resolution 1244. According to Moscow, to recognize unilateral independence declared by the Albanians, raises some important questions. Apart from breaking international law that allows the formation of a new state only with all parties involved giving their consent, it would establish a serious precedent that would encourage nationalist secessionism in many other parts of the world. On the other hand, the European Union, the third member of the troika, is internally divided and is incapable of expressing an agreed foreign policy. Some countries, such as Germany, are aligned with the USA’s position, and would recognise immediately an independent Kosovo; others are afraid that it could start a “domino effect” among the potentially secessionist nationalities that live inside their territories, and are therefore opposing such an option. So the European Union which, among other things, is considered to be the biggest economic power in the world, failed to resolve a crisis that begun in a small region in the very heart of the continent. The Union never used the only valid weapon it had; in my personal opinion - a rapid integration into its structures of the countries of the so-called Western Balkans. This solution would have suffocated nationalist initiatives in states such as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, because it would have shown the benefits of a multi-national and multi-ethnic society that existed between states integrated into European structures. On the contrary, the Western Balkans still are a sort of a “black hole” in the continent, part of “an Europe that is not Europe”, and isolated – even economically – from the rest of the world. A predictable consequence of the recognition of Kosovo’s independence would be the detachment of a part of the region, north from the river Ibar, that is inhabited exclusively by Serbs that recognize themselves in Belgrade’s Serbia. Such a result would not appear as a secession, because without contradicting the will of those involved and living there, it would also respect Resolution 1244. However, it would compromise the destiny of the non-Albanian communities that still exist in central Kosovo, inevitably leading towards an exodus – voluntary or not – from the region. If such a scenario should occur, the failure of the European Union could not be more complete. Not only would it appear as incapable of integrating its own communities with a proposal of collective identity from a juridical point of view, that would make anachronistic every insistence upon nationalit rivalries, but it would also be responsible for a further political fragmentation of the continent, breaking some of the fundamental international laws.
30-giu-2008
Kosovo ; nationalism ; European Union ; juridical status ; secessionism
Settore M-GGR/01 - Geografia
Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism
University of Surrey
The Kosovo status and the European Union: the failure of a multi-ethnic region project / A. Violante. ((Intervento presentato al convegno Nationalism, Ethnicity and Citizenship: Whose Citizens? Whose Rights? tenutosi a Guildford, Surrey (UK) nel 2008.
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