BRUSSELS - European Union leaders agreed on Friday to send administrators and police to Kosovo ahead of an expected declaration of independence from Serbia. In a bid to soothe Balkan tensions over Kosovo’s push for independence, they also offered Serbia a fast-track route to joining the bloc once it met conditions for signing a first-level agreement on closer ties.But Belgrade bristled at suggestions that the move was designed to compensate it for the looming loss of Kosovo, the majority Albanian province. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said any such trade-off would be “an indecent proposal”.
EU leaders declared after a one-day summit that negotiations on Kosovo’s future were exhausted, the status quo was untenable and there was a need to move towards a Kosovo settlement. They stopped short of endorsing independence. “We took a political decision to send an ESDP mission to Kosovo. This is the clearest signal the EU could possibly give that Europe intends to lead on Kosovo and the future of the region,” Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, the summit chairman, told a news conference.
ESDP is the European Security and Defence Policy. The 1,800-strong mission involves police, justice officials and civilian administrators.
But when asked whether and when the EU would recognise Kosovo’s independence, Socrates said talks on that issue were taking place at the United Nations. “The EU is not forgetting its responsibilities in this area. We are talking in terms of action and not inaction,” he said.
| BWA-HA-HA-HA! 'Action'? What a joke! The man is a serious comedian. What? He's not kidding? |