Speaking to journalists in Brussels yesterday, Moratinos appeared to take the side of his Serbian colleague Vuk Jeremic, who underlined divisions between EU member countries over Kosovo. Spain is among those EU countries not to have recognised the Balkan state (see 'Background').
Jeremic, who came to Brussels to push for following-up on his country's application to join the EU, presented just ahead of Christmas (EurActiv 04/01/10), said that his country rejected an international plan to stabilize relations between the Albanians majority and ethnic Serbs in Northern Kosovo. Indeed, in the region of Kosovska Mitrovica, a compact Serbian majority lives, largely ignoring the powers of Pristina and maintaining close ties with Serbia.
Jeremic added that that the plan amounted to an imposed decision.
Give-and-take strategy
The plan was drawn by the Chief of Civil International Office in Kosovo (ICO) Peter Feith, a Dutch diplomat. ICO is a body, established by countries that support Kosovos independence, including several EU countries and the USA.
According to reports by the official Serbian Tanjug agency which says it has seen the plan, ICO envisages a give-and-take strategy between moving forward with Belgrade’s EU perspective, and its cooperation for phasing-out its assistance to Northern Kosovo.
Belgrade should also be forced to stop discouraging Serbs in Kosovo from voting in the elections organized by Pristina, the document stated. The EU rule of law mission EULEX should increase its visibility and presence in the north and open an office, the draft reportedly says.
Multi-layer diplomacy
According to the mandate of EUSR, Peter Feith provides guidance to EULEX, the largest civilian mission ever launched under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). EULEX has a staff target of 3.200, with 1.950 international officials and 1.250 local staff.
EULEX, whose initial objective was to take over from the UN post-conflict mission UNMIK, was put in place as a result of a compromise, whereby Western nations agreed to Serbia's demand that the mission should be deployed with the blessing of the UN Security Council and that it would be "status neutral", meaning it would not make Kosovo's spilt from Serbia official and would not implement the UN's Ahtisaari plan (EurActiv 28/10/08).
As Special representative of the EU in Kosovo (EUSR), Feith has the mandate to represents all EU countries, including Spain. In addition to the institutions cited, the European Commission has a Liaison office in Kosovo.
Moratinos answered his Serbian counterpart, saying that the Spanish presidency is working in a pragmatic and constructive manner in Northern Kosovo," thereby admitting that the international community had limited leverage in the Serbian-populated part of Kosovo.
In the meantime, Serbian authorities in Kosovska Mitrovica reportedly have rejected plans for the holding of local elections, envisaged under the Peter Feith plan.
But if Moratinos can be seen as standing at one extreme of the EU Kosovo diplomacy, many EU countries consider Peter Feith to be at the other extreme, as he proves to be a controversial choice for his Balkan job, diplomats told EurActiv.
