America’s Kosovo instructions for the Slovenian EU presidency
The Slovene daily Dnevnik, shadowed by the Serbian Politika, has made public a document in which a representative of the Slovenian Foreign Ministry records a meeting with U.S. State Department officials on 24 December last year.
In particular, the officials discussed how Slovenia should help sheepdog the EU into recognizing Kosovo’s independence.
Some think this shows scandalous U.S. manipulation of Slovenia’s EU presidency over Kosovo. I think the scandal lies elsewhere.
Kosovo
The American side wanted Slovenia to be the first EU state to recognize Kosovo, at least 15 of 27 EU countries to do so, and the EU to agree on sending a mission to Kosovo. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon could then conclude that “the facts on the ground have changed” and call on the EU mission to deploy, without asking the Security Council.
None of this is surprising. Yes, Slovenia talks to the U.S.; the U.S. says what it wants; Slovenia probably listens carefully. But it is not really fair to portray Slovenia as being unpresidentially alert to U.S. wishes rather than protective of collegial EU decision-making. Most EU countries, and the most important ones, already agree they need to shoulder a mission supervising Kosovo’s independence, look united about it, and not screw up too badly. How could Slovenia not coordinate with the U.S?
Second, it is no surprise that the U.S. wants Kosovo to gain independence and that this will require careful choreography because Russia will veto a Security Council resolution. Kosovo will unilaterally declare independence, unilaterally sort of abide by the Ahtisaari plan, and be swiftly recognized by the U.S. and like-minded states. The EU mission will provide the “international civil presence” required by Security Council Resolution 1244, and that, somehow, will take care of the formalities. The International Crisis Group, for one, outlined this scenario in early December.
There are fascinating details. A State Dept. official is quoted in Dnevnik as explaining how the Kosovo parliament should declare independence on a Sunday, so Russia would not have time to call a Security Council session before enough countries have recognized it…
The U.S. finessing international law is never nice to watch. But Serbo-Russian foot-dragging can achieve little at this point except to make life miserable for everyone a while longer. The sooner Kosovo gets a settled status — and for nine years it has been clear it won’t be a province of Serbia again — the better for everyone involved.
The SAA and the Hague
The sooner Serbia is enmeshed in closer European cooperation, the better, too.
It is good that Slovenia did not want Serbia’s SAA with the EU to be conditional on Kosovo’s independence, and that the U.S. at least did not want it to seem to be so. Surrendering territory should not be the price of entry into the European club. Surrendering perpetrators of genocide should be. Serbia still shields Ratko Mladić, the butcher of Srebrenica.
According to Politika, Slovenia complained to the U.S. that the Netherlands and Belgium are insisting on Serbia’s compliance with the ICTY; and the U.S. promised to tell the Dutch that an SAA for Serbia is more important for stabilizing the region than compliance with the Hague. Now that is disrespect for international law.
The Dutch have held out, forcing EU foreign ministers to compromise on offering Serbia an interim agreement instead of a full-fledged SAA. Messy, but possibly for the best.
The dilemma is this: Short- and mid-term stability in the region depends on politically expedient solutions. But long-term stability can only be built on law, and law that is habitually set aside for expediency just isn’t law.