Union aims for big role in future of Kosovo talks

Date: 20/10/05

The United Nations' Security Council will next week discuss starting long-awaited talks on Kosovo's final status, as the EU prepares for a sizeable role in the province's future.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to appoint a personal representative to head the negotiations as the Security Council meets next Monday (24 October).

The EU is likely to be strongly represented in the talks with former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari rumoured to be one of the leading contenders to head the negotiations.

Stefan Lehne, a close adviser of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, is being tipped as one of the deputies.

Another two deputies are expected to be selected, one each from the US and Russia.

The talks will mark the end of the 'standards before status' process which has kept the highly controversial debate about the future of Kosovo at arms length since 2003.

Kosovo became a UN protectorate in 1999 after NATO's bombing put an end to ethnic cleansing by Serbian authorities of the ethnic Albanian majority, although legally it remains a part of Serbia and Montenegro. Kosovo's Albanian majority and Belgrade continue to contest the future status of the province with the Serbian government strongly opposing moves toward independence.

Many in the international community have backed the opening of talks, despite Kosovo's failure to meet the standards set out, after violence broke out in the province this spring prompted fears of renewed instability..

According to Judy Batt, an expert on the Balkans at the EU Institute of Security Studies in Paris, the process is likely to be pushed along quickly, with talks reaching a climax next May. "Clearly, the Americans are very keen to keep up the pace," she said.

"The UN thinks that it is time to get out, that they are losing credibility in the province. What is less clear is that the EU is ready to step into the breach."

Javier Solana has proposed setting up an EU police mission to Kosovo, but so far the EU and the US seem unlikely to press for a replacement of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission. The EU is currently responsible for reconstruction and economic development.

Article reports that the United Nations' Security Council was to debate on whether to start long-awaited talks on Kosovo's final status, 24 October 2005. Author suggests that the EU was preparing for a sizeable role in the province's future.