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November 20th, 2008

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Officials wary to sanction Kosovo

Feelings of sympathy for Serbia cross party lines

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 27th, 2008 issue

A historical friendship with Serbia, a United Nations precedent and a national memory scarred by the Munich Agreement.

These are the factors contributing to the government’s reluctance to recognize the statehood of Serbia’s autonomous region of Kosovo, which declared independence Feb. 17.

Noting the disparities in the foreign policies of individual member states, the Council of the European Union determined Feb. 18 that it was up to each EU country to decide whether to recognize Kosovo’s independence — a decision revealing Europe’s deep divide on the issue.

While established member states including the United Kingdom, France and Germany have already recognized Kosovo’s independence, foreign affairs ministers of countries such as Slovakia and Spain have resolved against it.

Given its hesitation to issue an official position on the matter, the Czech Foreign Affairs Ministry stands somewhere in the middle, refusing to decide before a European consensus is reached.

“When a large majority of EU countries recognizes Kosovo, I will join them,” Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg announced Feb. 21.

The crux of the problem is that recognizing Kosovo’s independence would diminish the significance of vital international legislation, said former Foreign Affairs Minister Jiří Dienstbier, an expert on the Balkans conflict.

By accepting Kosovo’s independence despite the standpoint of the Serbian government (which vehemently opposes the separation), the international community risks violating a 1975 international law stipulating that a change in the borders of European countries may happen only if all concerned parties agree to it. Historically, although involved countries have often agreed grudgingly to such changes, until now the law was upheld in all cases, including the 1992 split of Yugoslavia.

“In the current case, the Serbian side will not and cannot agree to cede Kosovo, partly because the region is the cradle of Serbian culture,” Dienstbier said. “The Albanians [who make up Kosovo’s ethnic majority] only pushed the Serbs out of the territory in the past few centuries.”

If the international community disregards the 1975 law by recognizing an independent Kosovo, it could be seen as a precedent for separatists throughout the world. It is for this reason that countries such as China, Russia, Spain and Slovakia cannot afford to recognize Kosovo, as they all contain territories whose inhabitants are calling for greater autonomy, Dienstbier said.

While devoid of breakaway territories, the Czech Republic is compelled to sympathize with Serbia due to its not-so-distant past. According to Dienstbier, the current situation in Kosovo is not unlike the 1938 Munich conference, when the representatives of four European powers signed a treaty condoning the cession of Sudetenland — a prevalently German area on Czechoslovakia’s border — despite the protests of the Czechoslovak government.

“The argument that Kosovo has a right to independence because a majority of its inhabitants speak a different language is exactly the same as the situation of the Sudeten Germans who broke away from Czechoslovakia,” Dienstbier said.

Another concern for foreign policy, he added, is the country’s strong relationship with Serbia, which had “sided with the Czechs” during crucial historical moments. While this in itself may not affect the Czech position on Kosovo, it’s a factor the Foreign Affairs Ministry takes into consideration.

“Prague is interested in good relations with Serbia; it recently took accommodating steps toward EU integration and does not wish to suddenly reverse its policy,” Schwarzenberg told the Czech News Agency Feb. 21.

However, the government’s position will not affect the Czech military presence in the region. As a NATO member, the Czech Republic currently has 430 troops stationed in Kosovo as part of the KFOR international peacekeeping force, and plans to send more this summer.

When violence broke out on the guarded Kosovo-Serbian border in the wake of the Feb. 17 declaration, these troops were instrumental in maintaining order as hundreds of protesting Serbian veterans (who fought in Kosovo against Albanian guerillas between 1998 and 1999) ignited pyres and threw stones at police.

According to Dienstbier, the growing military presence in the region is testament to the fact that Kosovo’s declaration of independence is premature.

By recognizing Kosovo’s independence, the United States wants to relegate its peacekeeping responsibility to the EU. “All that will happen is that the territory will go from UN to EU administration,” he said. “What sort of independence is that?”

Across party lines

On the national level, the issue of Kosovo’s independence has united politicians from a spectrum of political persuasions.

As early as Feb. 6, the Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution urging the Cabinet to abide by international legal precedents when formulating its position on Kosovo’s anticipated independence.

While this parliamentary resolution is not binding for the Cabinet, the initiative illustrates that the pro-Serbian sentiments of local politicians transcend party lines. Such sentiments have been echoed by the public as hundreds demonstrated against an independent Kosovo in Prague’s center the weekend of Feb. 23.

With appeals to preserve the “sovereignty and unity” of the Serbian nation, the most hard-line stance against recognizing Kosovo has been demonstrated by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM).

In a recent open letter to President Václav Klaus, KSČM Chairman Vojtěch Filip warned against the “speedy acquiescence” of the United States and certain EU countries, alleging that these hasty decisions pressure the international community to also recognize Kosovo. “Let us make it clear that we will not condone the injustice suffered by the Serbian [minority] in Kosovo,” Filip wrote.

In response, Klaus wrote he sympathized with the frustration and disillusionment of the Serbs and expressed concern about the impacts that Kosovo’s declaration of independence will have on other countries. “Our reaction must be timed so that it contributes to calming down — not escalating — the imminent conflict,” he wrote.

These views are further bolstered by the Social Democratic Party, whose chairman, Jiří Paroubek, recently called Kosovo’s unilateral decision to declare independence “a premature and irresponsible step.”

Regardless of its stance toward Kosovo’s independence, the Czech government should remain focused on eradicating conflicts over borders by integrating west Balkan countries into the EU, which is currently a top priority of Czech foreign policy, Dienstbier said.

“Our own security depends on stability in the Balkans,” he said. “It is therefore essential to persuade our partner countries that, instead of causing further disruption to the region through supporting the questionable independence of Kosovo, we must offer the Balkan nations systematic support and a real perspective of European integration.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com

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