EU nations remain divided over Kosovo[fr][de] 

As widely expected, the EU's four biggest countries - Germany, France, the UK and Italy - announced yesterday (18 February) their intention to recognise the ethnic Albanian state, the sixth born out of the disintegration of Yugoslavia. At the same time, official recognition of Kosovo was granted by Washington.

Spain was the country to hold the toughest line against common EU recognition of Kosovo as Madrid believes it sets a potentially dangerous precedent which could be exploited by other minorities across Europe, including in its own Basque, Catalan and Galitian regions.

A mild diplomatic wording was hence chosen for the conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council which states that "member states will decide, in accordance with national practice and international law, on their relations with Kosovo". At the request of Spain, the final compromise wording does not mention the words "independence" or "recognition".

Explaining the Spanish position, a diplomat in Brussels said the formulation was directed "more for the internal [Spanish] public than for us in Brussels".

Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria adopted the Spanish stance as announced before the foreign ministers meeting. All of them declared themselves against recognition.

However, the majority of EU member states are in favour of Kosovo's independence and in the next week at least 15 of them are expected to officially recognise the new state.

To ease the way for recognition, foreign ministers agreed to define Kosovo as a "sui generis case" which does not call into question the principles of territorial integrity recognised by the EU and thus does not create a precedent.

This common position, supported by the fact that Kosovo is currently under UN administration, allowed Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU Presidency, to declare that the "European Union has again passed the test of unity".

Meanwhile, Serbia protested against the recognition of Kosovo's independence by withdrawing its ambassadors from France, Turkey and the US. 

Ahead of the foreign ministers meeting, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana urged all parties "to act responsibly". 

The current EU president, Slovenia's foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, said after the minister meeting that "the EU has once again successfully passed the test showing its unity and adopted a common position on recent developments in Kosovo". 

"The principles of the Spanish position on a possible recognition of Kosovo are clear and are that we do not recognise a unilateral decision," said Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the EU Council obtained "a victory that is good for everybody". Serbs, he said, "do not have to see it as a defeat because they can join the EU when they want, provided they respect their engagements".

David Miliband, the UK foreign minister, was very clear: "We will recognise Kosovo. The idea is to do it this evening," he decalred after the meeting. 

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was equally unequivocal, announcing that Germany "will soon recognise Kosovo". 

Italian Interim Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema  said Italy "will recognise Kosovo on Wednesday".

"The current situation for Serbs is difficult, but I hope that citizens will be eager to look at the future," commented EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, repeating that the conditions are there to sign a transitional agreement with Belgrade on their path to membership of the Union.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering underlined that Kosovo's independence "is the will of citizens".

"Following Kosovo's declaration of independence yesterday, NATO reaffirms that KFOR shall remain in Kosovo on the basis of UNSCR 1244, as agreed by foreign ministers in December 2007, unless the UN Security Council decides otherwise," reads a NATO press release published yesterday.

In the European Parliament (EP), the centre-right EPP-ED group, the largest political group in Parliament, called on Kosovo to show "responsibility", saying "special attention will have to be devoted to full implementation of the minorities' rights".

The British leader of the ALDE groop in the EP, Graham Watson, was commenting in the same direction, saying that "Kosovars now have repsonsibility for Serb minority". 

The Green MEP Joos Lagendijk, Angelika Beer and Bart Staes, who were present in Pristina by the time of the declaration, called the decision "a welcome step to ending the uncertainty that has surrounded the status of Kosovo for some time now". 

Serbia's President Boris Tadic urged the Security Council to annul Kosovo's independence, saying: "If they keep their eyes shut over this illegal step, what is to stop parts of their own countries from illegally declaring independence later on?"