Awaiting the EU

On July 22, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague – the highest judicial body of the U.N. – ruled that the unilateral secession of Kosovo from Serbia in 2008 is not a violation of international law. “The court considers that general international law contains no applicable prohibition on declarations of independence,” said the court’s president, Judge Hisashi Owada. Accordingly, it concludes that “the declaration of independence of the 17th of February 2008 did not violate general international law, nor Security Council Resolution 1244, nor the constitutional framework”. The United States and most Western States had recognized Kosovo’s declaration of independence of 2008, but Serbia, along with Russia, permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, had rejected it and asked the International Court’s opinion. The 1988-1999 war between Serbian security forces and separatist Albanians caused 13 victims, mostly Albanians from Kosovo. To date, 1,862 people are considered missing. 2 million Albanians and some 120 thousand Serbs live in the region, in a state of mutual hostility. Follows the comment of Balcan Politics expert Mauro Ungaro regarding The Hague’s Court ruling. Kosovo is unquestionably the Country of incongruity. The three “noes” pronounced last week by the International Court of Justice risk having few practical consequences on the near future of the Balkan Country. But it is likely to have serious repercussions across European chancelleries. The Assembly of the United Nations had asked the International Court to rule whether Kosovo’s declaration of independence infringed international law. The judges did not restrict their decision to a ‘no’, as no international regulation precludes such statement. In the decision, (which is advisory, albeit relevant) they added two significant remarks. In fact they stated that U.N. Resolution 1244 of 1999 does not ascribe to the Security Council the exclusive right to decide on the Country’s future and that Kosovo’s MPs acted in their capacities as democratically elected representatives of the population and that they are not responsible to the bodies provided for in Resolution 1244.But three “noes” aren’t equivalent to one “yes”, thus the Court refrained from explicitly affirming Kosovo’s lawfulness.The opinion further highlights the divisions within the EU to this regard. 22 EU Countries recognized Pristina’s government to date. 5 governments – Greece, Romania, Spain, Slovakia and Cyprus – have not yet taken a stand. However, their hesitation is due to concerns that the recognition of Kosovo might fuel separatist fringes in these Countries. Minorities such as the Catalans in Spain, the Hungarians in Romania, the Albanians in Northern Greece and the Turks in the Northern are of Cyprus, may now identify the ICJ ruling as a legal precedent on which to base their claims. Kosovo’s independence is now a fact also for Serbia, which indeed commented the ICJ decision by assuring that it will continue its struggle to preserve its own territorial integrity with “peaceful and diplomatic means”, thus refraining from the hostile declarations of the past years. It can be imagined that it will happen starting next year when the ICJ will present the motivations of the ruling before the UN General Assembly. In New York the pro-Kosovo stance of the U.S., France and England will be evened out by the opposed stance of Russia and China, two countries which consider minorities’ self-determination a inviolable taboo. Until now the game of crossed vetoes prevented the development of Kosovo’s definitive future scenario. Resolution 1244 only establishes the framework for the Region’s near future. Now more than ever the baton is in the Union’s hands. Belgrade considers EU membership a nonnegotiable target, while if stripped of European economic aid Kosovo would just be a name on the map. Over the past months Brussels managed to bring home a satisfactory result in the dispute regarding Slovenia-Croatia borders. Today it must place equal effort in resolving the Kosovan question.