Kosovo: EU In a Quandary Over the North

Coming on two months since the surfacing of the EU's new "strategy" for northern Kosovo, there seems little to show. This is not necessarily bad in itself since no action is better than the wrong action. But the next several weeks should reveal whether it will peter out all together or lead to pressures for something more "traditional" such as real negotiations with the Serbs or the use of threats, intimidation and police force against them as in the past.

(Gerard Gallucci, Outside The Walls) Monday, March 01, 2010

The leadership of Pieter Feith itself appears to have become an issue blocking progress with the Serbian side. This has crystallized - within the EU as well - around the incompatibility of his two hats: Feith is both chief EU representative for Kosovo - and thus supposedly operating within the status neutral framework agreed with the UN for deployment of EULEX - and head of the ICO - responsible for supporting Kosovo independence and institutions. But his one-sided support for taking Kosovo institutions into the north - revealed not only by the northern strategy but his repeated verbal attacks on so-called "parallel" institutions - has made it impossible for him to do any constructive business with Belgrade or the northern Serbs. Serbian State Secretary for Kosovo Oliver Ivanović makes this very clear. He reportedly told the press last week that "no solution can be found with a man who has placed himself at the service of Kosovo's independence. Feith is not acceptable to Kosovo Serbs. He communicates only with Albanians and only sends messages to Serbs, messages which are causing concern among the Serb community. " Ivanović called on the EU to "understand the complexity of the situation, close the International Civilian Office, give up on Feith and form a new mission which would be entrusted equally to the UN and the EU in keeping with the Resolution 1244." He said the central problem is that "Feith exercises two opposing functions - that of head of the International Civilian Office, which is working on the basis of Martti Ahtisaari's plan, and that of special representative of the EU high commissioner for foreign policy and security, which should make him neutral as regards Kosovo's independence." Ivanović also called on UNMIK to play its role as it can best facilitate communication between Serbs and Albanians and between Serbs and the International Civil Office (ICO) because the UN works according to UNSR 1244.

Not surprisingly, the EU is looking at using other interlocutors with the Serbs. It has named a new special representative to the north - the current Italian Ambassador to Pristina - and is now dispatching EULEX chief Yves de Kermabon to Belgrade this week, reportedly to discuss the courts in the north. The Serbian government is under considerable pressure from the EU over the need to reach accommodation with Kosovo if its EU membership is to prosper. Gen. De Kermabon may be going to Belgrade to see if the EU's preliminary "artillery bombardment" has softened it up sufficiently to agree to establishment of a Kosovo court in the north that is not status neutral. Indeed it is interesting that Ivanović' comments noted above leaves open the possibility of dialogue with the ICO through UNMIK. This suggests how far Belgrade may be willing to go to accommodate the EU if not Feith.

The Serbian government is free, of course, to make any deal with the EU that it believes serves Serbian national interests. But in the current context, it still remains difficult to see how it could accept any agreement on the court that allowed the return of Kosovo law and judicial officials and subjecting the north to a jurisdiction encompassing the Albanian-majority south. Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović reaffirmed the government's willingness to "solve problems through talks" but also noted that this is difficult "when you have a party which got everything it asked for and Serbs on the other side ... lost everything." Belgrade has also made clear at the highest levels that it is not prepared to "pay for Europe with Kosovo" or to trade part of its territory for the north.

The stage is set for either new and creative thinking by the EU on achieving practical solutions - status neutral solutions - to practical problems in the north or for seeing its approach founder on the rocks of reality. Simple surrender by the Serbs or by Belgrade remains unlikely. The UN can play a vital role here if EULEX wishes to make real progress on rule of law. But it would be unwise to bet that the north is some "house of straw" that a big, bad wolf can just blow down.

 

http://outsidewalls.blogspot.com/2010/03/kosovo-eu-in-quandary-over-north.html