Montenegro slams EU's referendum threshold
21.02.2006 - 18:09 CETMontenegro says the EU threshold of 55 percent for its independence referendum is undemocratic and could provoke instability, Balkans news agency DTT-NET.COM writes.
"The formula proposed by the EU harms the basic democratic principle that each vote should have the same democratic value," Montenegran prime minister Milo Djukanovic said at the Crans Montana economic forum in Przn, Montenegro, on Monday (20 February).
"The decision belongs to the majority and not the minority. The EU's formula contains a virus which is dangerous to the stability of society when it comes to the implementation of the results," he added.
Montenegro is set to hold the vote on whether to leave the Serbia-Montenegro alliance in April or May, with pro-independence campaigners led by Mr Djukanovic saying that a majority of 25 to 40 percent should be enough for the results to stand.
Serbian-led opposition parties favour a figure of 50 percent or above, with recent opinion polls showing that 41 percent support independence while 32 percent are against.
The Montenegrin law on referendums states that the decision is to be taken by a majority of citizens eligible to vote, but doesn't fix any exact figure.
Kosovo first round inconclusive
Serbia is facing the prospect of losing two territories this year, with UN-led talks currently under way in Vienna on the future status of Kosovo.
The talks have so far focussed on creating Serb-run municipalities in the majority ethnic-Albanian province, under UN protection since 1999, when Serb forces led by Slobodan Milosevic carried out attacks on Albanian communities.
Serb negotiators have argued the quasi-autonomous units are needed to safeguard the civil liberties of ethnic Serbs, but Kosovan Albanians attacked the plan as being based on a "territorial principle, division of communities and non-functional local institutions."
The talks, currently in their first round, are not expected to produce quick results, but the international community, led by the UK, France, Germany, Italy Russia and the US, is pushing for agreement on Kosovo's status by the end of the year.
February 21, 2006
SN543:Montenegro slams EU's referendum threshold
opinion articles and interviews in Kosovo Albanian press today
CHALLENGES OF STATE-MAKING
(Zeri, by Bardh Hamzaj)
Since in the process of definition of Kosovo status are involved all main world centers, they also took care to make clearer the framework, within which this solution will be found.
Based on the statements of the personalities that lead the process of definition of Kosovo status, Kosovars have reasons to be satisfied with so-far development of this process.
First, it has to do with the decisiveness of the main western states, including the US, that the status is solved this year and secondly the principles of the Contact Group made clear that Kosovo cannot return in any way to the situation before 1999 and that its status will bring stability and not open a new phase of the conflicts in the region.
In this context, the statements given to the German media by Martti Ahtisaari that at the end Kosovo people will decide how will Kosovo status look like, did not leave dilemmas about the future of Kosovo. So, the status, will be in accordance with the will of Kosovo people, which is its independence.
All this does not mean that the Albanians have already finished their job. Kosovo and its people are before the historical moment of the fulfillment of their aspirations, but also at the moment of the biggest challenge, when it should be proved that the equal status with the mechanisms of the highest standards in the world should be reserved.
This implies the capabilities’ of a society to face with challenges of a state-making and creation of free and democratic Kosovo. Kosovo should reach this, otherwise all positive trends marked so far in the recently started process of the definition of the status, could be ruined very quickly.
INDEPENDENCE OR OCCUPATION
(Express, by Tim Judah)
The moment of truth has finally arrived. More than six years after the end of the Kosovo war, talks on its future status open this morning in Vienna. They are to be chaired by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.
For several months diplomatic sources have indicated that, not only do they expect the talks to lead Kosovo’s independence, but that they are not really even about its future status, but rather about the future of the Serbian minority within Kosovo.
Kosovo has a population of some 2 million people of whom more than 90 per cent are ethnic Albanians. They have long demanded independence from Serbia.
War began in Kosovo in 1998 and NATO intervened in 1999. Following a 78-day bombardment of Serbia, its southern province came under the jurisdiction of the UN, although technically the sovereignty of the province remained with Serbia.
An exodus of non-Albanians, primarily Serbs and Roma followed the war. Now some 100,000 Serbs live, either in the north of Kosovo, in an area that abuts Serbia, or in enclaves scattered across the province.
Over the last year, diplomats working on the Kosovo question have predicted that the talks would lead to some form of “conditional independenceâ€. This foresaw the breaking of the sovereign link with Serbia, NATO-led forces remaining and some form of international presence that would have the right, as in Bosnia, to interfere in everyday politics.
Now, however, sources close to the talks process in Vienna have told ISN Security Watch that Kosovo is likely to have far more independence than this. According to these sources, even the term “conditional independence†is now politically incorrect and is being replaced by “sovereignty with limitations†or “monitored independenceâ€.
Talks in Vienna on Monday will center on decentralization. This is diplomatic code for autonomy for Serbian areas. Among things to be discussed will be the redrawing of municipal boundaries to create more Serbian dominated municipalities.
Two questions of highly symbolic importance that are unlikely to be discussed at the Vienna talks - but rather imposed by the UN Security Council in any status decision it is likely to take later this year - are about whether Kosovo will have a seat at the UN and whether it will have an army.
Diplomatic sources have told ISN Security Watch that they expect that Kosovo will have a UN seat sooner rather than later, which means that this could be within the next two or three years rather than say, waiting to time this with Kosovo’s eventual accession to the EU, which is certainly, at the very least, a decade away.
Under any settlement, Kosovo’s security is to continue to be provided by forces from mostly NATO member states and a role in policing is likely to be played by the EU.
As to the question of Kosovo’s own future army, ideas being discussed include a re-branding of the Kosovo Protection Corps. This was set up in the wake of the 1999 war to absorb several thousand former ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK/KLA). Today, despite its military ranks, it is supposed to be an unarmed, civil emergency force. One idea is that it should be given an arsenal of light weapons and given a new role as a “gendarmerie†force.
Although it has been clear for much of the last year that Kosovo was heading towards independence little has been done by Serbian leaders to prepare their population for this eventuality.
Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), the largest in Serbia’s parliament, says that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has agreed with him that if Kosovo becomes independent then it should be declared “occupied territoryâ€.
Kostunica has not denied this claim, which would end Serbia’s bids to join both the EU and NATO, as both of them would presumably be occupying powers, along with Kosovo’s native Albanian population.
Aleksandar Simic, an adviser on Kosovo to Kostunica, said recently that Serbia would “never†accept the independence of Kosovo and: “The Kosovo Albanians have to be aware that they will not receive independence from Serbia and that Serbia will retain the right to take back everything which it lost in an illegal manner.â€
Another possibility currently under discussion in Serbia is whether or not to hold a referendum on the future of Kosovo, in effect, to ask Serbian voters to reject independence.
This idea recalls the referendum held in 1998 when the then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic asked Serbs to reject foreign mediation in the Kosovo conflict.
Indeed, the current level of discussion about the future of Kosovo has been greeted with dismay by some in Serbia. Daniel Sunter, head of the Belgrade think tank, the Euro-Atlantic Initiative, says there has been no serious debate in Serbia about what Serbs could expect if Kosovo was not given independence.
Quite apart from the demographic issues involved in trying to live in peace with a young, growing, and hostile Albanian population, he says: “What would it mean for Serbia? That it would take 500,000 soldiers to keep it under control or what?â€
Kosovo Albanian leaders are, of course, in good cheer since independence is the goal they have been working towards since the collapse of the old Yugoslavia.
They are already turning their minds to the period after independence. Veton Surroi, a prominent opposition leader, says that the election of Fatmir Sejdiu as the new president of Kosovo following the death of Ibrahim Rugova last month brings with it an opportunity to clear out a lot of the corrupt old guard of Kosovo politics and usher in new people better able to deal with some of Kosovo’s massive economic problems.
According to Surroi, the 6 February declaration by John Sawers, the political director of the British Foreign Office, that Kosovo would be independent, meant that “the Rubicon has been crossedâ€. That, he said, coupled with the political opportunities that may follow the election of Sejdiu, leads him to feel a new and positive “critical energy†among Kosovo Albanian decision makers.
SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING
(Kosova Sot, editorial)
While the Kosovo delegation started the first round of talks in Vienna as a part of the process for solution of Kosovo’s status, senior leaders in Prishtina were loudly critical towards the delays about the appointment of the two new Ministers. The weakest reaction came from the Kosovo PM, who seems to deal with serious political issues therefore, he has forgotten that according to the Constitutional Framework, he is responsible for the functioning of the Government. But it should be accepted that the decision-making process about this issue exceeds his competencies.
Kosovo should have had the Minister of Internal Affairs and Justice appointed by now. PM Kosumi should have constantly asked and make this issue his priority. It is not known if a meeting was held regarding this issue since the time when the regulation about the creation of these two ministries was approved.
But while PM Kosumi does not want to have bad relationships with the coalition partners, Assembly speaker Nexhat Daci booed his political party. The statements he made yesterday are a severe critique addressed to his party, the LDK, and a sincere concern about the huge stagnation regarding the appointment of the new Ministers. President Ftmir Sejdiu was a bit more laconic and softer, but he did not spare the governing coalition from critics regarding this issue.
The ongoing prolongation is senseless and it is empowering the idea that Kosovar politics has still many defects. The interests about power and competition within parties have been challenging the state’s interests. They have been creating a dangerous precedent just before the recognition of the Kosovar state. These negative models would not help Kosovo to keep the positive image and this may reflect on the relations with the EU and US.
INTERNATIONALS WITH THE EXPIRED MANDATES MIGHT CAUSE RIOTS
(Epoka e Re by Hamdi Miftari)
I was witness of the case when Temporary Media Commissioner Robert Gillette tried to close TV Mitrovica, by confiscating broadcasting equipment. Everyone was surprised when saw that Gillette himself came to Mitrovica, and take the stairs to the 12th floor (since the elevator was not in function) to the studio of Mitrovica TV, handover the confiscation document and return with empty hands.
What I saw there is a very important moment of Kosovo society development. Gillette has announced an inspection to TV Mitrovica and he found himself as violating law not protecting its implementation, what his post as commissioner obliges him. Seeing the case I thought why Gillette is doing this to TV Mitrovica. The reason is very simple: Gillette’s mandate has expired long time ago. The Kosovo Assembly has passed the Law on Independent Media Commission, the SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen has signed this law, but since the Assembly has not appointed the commissioner, Gillette is trying to find a job for himself by creating troubles there where the situation is sensitive, in Mitrovica.
He allowed broadcasting of TV Most and TV Mir from illegal points and now when his mandate has expired he remembered to stop the illegal broadcast. The justification was found, Gillette’s predecessor Anna De Lellio been hasn’t serious when had licensed TV Mitrovica which covered more than half of Kosovo.
By not having law on his side Gillette tried to confiscate all equipments of TV Mitrovica. The KPS police have no idea about all this. They only knew that an international who had the power wanted to destroy an institution that had many scarification on its way of build, and which had served to the society any time.
All this made me think that if UNMIK had more people like Gillette is, riots in Mitrovica and Kosovo would have been unavoidable.
ROHAN: RETURN OF THIS TERRITORY UNDER SERBIA IS NOT REALISTIC
(Most dailies)
Most dailies rerun the interview that Austrian diplomat Albert Rohan had with the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,’ regarding the beginning of talks in Vienna. Here are some highlights of it.
FAZ: There is an estimation in Serbia that in Vienna talks on Kosovo there is onluy one status that should be clarified: the Kosovo Serb minority status. for having an independent Kosovo the decision should have been made long time ago.
Rohan: We as mediators can only follow up the atmosphere in the international community and at the Contact Group. There is a thinking there that Slobodan Milosevic has lost Kosovo in 1999 ad that the return of that territory under Serbia is not realistic. In order not to follow with the main status issue, we are following a strategy so we start concrete issues in the talks, and possibly find many joint solutions on the issues which should necessarily be solved-no matter what would be Kosovo status. our goal is to find a solution which would find the accordance of both parties. If this becomes unachievable, we will report to the UN General Secretary and he will present it to the UN SC.
FAZ: But Government in Serbia is not raising any intentions to rule Kosovo. It wants to protect Serbia’s territorial integrity and disable Kosovo win a place and a vote in the UN.
Rohan: I cannot predict result of talks and I cannot exclude the possibility that an agreement can be achieved now, what seem not to be possible. In case that no agreement will be achieved, the Security Council should decide where four countries are permanent members of the Contact Group.
FAZ: During talks in Vienna the initial issue of discussion will be decentralization. Do you see signs of compromise?
Rohan: There are four issues in the area of decentralization, which should be quickly treated one after another. Then we will have financing of local administration and connections between municipalities, respectively Serb municipalities with Belgrade. The last point is new borders lines between municipalities. In this case it is the wish of Serbs who want delineation of Serb municipalities, that we do support. But these municipalities should be big enough so they could function. We cannot create municipalities with 400 people. Parallel with the decentralization there are also other issues such as protection of Orthodox Churcyh and protection of minorities in the area of legislation and institutionally.
FAZ: Is there a timeframe for Vienna Negotiations?
Rohan: All these issues will be treated in the beginning, until we reach to the main issue. Then, sooner or later, the political leaders of both parties will have to meet. We aim at solution of Kosovo issue till the end of 2006.
