Top EU ministers, Solana, Rehn meet in Slovenia over Kosovo
Foreign ministers of the four EU members of the Contact Group (Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy) are meeting on Saturday in Brdo, Slovenia, to discuss future moves on the status of Kosovo and the deployment of the ESDP mission there.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, January 18, 2008
The meeting, hosted by Slovenian foreign minister and chairman of the Council of ministers Dimitrij Rupel, is attended by High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and Enlargement Commissionner Olli Rehn.
"They will examine the latest situation concerning the debate on Kosovo but no breakthrough decisions are to be expected," a Slovenian EU presidency source said.
It added that a decision on sending an ESDP mission to Kosovo was unlikely at the next GAERC session on January 28, but could take place in February.
The four European members of the Contact Group have been key in pressuring the rest of the EU member countries to accept the conclusions of the December 14 summit, which set in motion the process of "coordinated declaration of independence" of Kosovo.
In fact, just a few days before the December meeting, French minister Bernard Kouchner, British Secretary David Milliband, Italian Foreign minister Massimo D'Alema and their German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmaier wrote a letter to the rest of the EU ministers in which they outlined their position on the process.
Most of their goals have been achieved in the conclusions adopted: an opposition to the pursuit of the talks, deciding that the EU should take the leading role in resolving the status, setting in motion concrete steps on that path through an agreement on the sending of the ESPD mission, as well as the message to Serbia that its road to the EU would speed up.
On the other side, their pressure did not succeed in two cases: there was no consensus on an "urgent" resolution of the status nor on taking UN SC Resolution 1244 as a legal basis of the ESDP mission.
These two priorities are likely to top the agenda at the Brdo meeting.