Balkan end game

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engers Membrum Posts: 84 (1/30/07 4:55 pm)	Balkan end game By Viewpoint: The Boston Globe The Hamilton Spectator (Jan 30, 2007) Recent elections in Serbia can have far-reaching consequences. The next government of Serbia will have a say on Kosovo's future status, the evolution of the European Union, Russia's relations with Europe and the degree to which the overwhelmingly Muslim Albanian population of Kosovo feels at home in Europe. Officials have been quick to point out that even though the ultranationalists of Serbia's Radical Party received the largest tally -- 28 per cent of the vote -- the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic and the Democratic Party of Serbia of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica are in position to form a pro-European coalition government able to renew suspended negotiations on accession to the EU. But first, EU officials commendably insist, Serbia must hand over General Ratko Mladic, who has been indicted by an international tribunal for war crimes in Bosnia. Co-operation with the tribunal is a test case for Serbia and for the EU. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the lure of EU acceptance has had a transformational effect on would-be members, causing them to adopt pluralist politics, free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights and the rule of law. The Serbian democratic parties likely to form a coalition government want resumed accession talks with the EU. But as the vote for the Radical Party suggests, there remains strong resistance in Serbia to the values and institutions required by the EU. The nationalists regard Mladic as a hero; their leader, Vojislav Seselj, is awaiting trial for war crimes in The Hague; and they cling to territorial claims in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. Kosovo is the hard case for Serbia's transformation. On Friday in Vienna, the United Nations special envoy for Kosovo, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, unveiled his plan for Kosovo's future to the Contact Group for Kosovo: Russia, the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany. The plan -- to be presented to Kosovo and Serbia this Friday -- proposes a form of independence, with some limits on sovereignty, for that war-torn province of Serbia. It suggests Kosovo should have the right to seek membership in international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the UN and the World Bank. Russia, which opposed the NATO war in 1999 to halt Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing of Albanian Kosovars, has made no secret of its objections to granting Kosovo independence and UN membership. In the hard bargaining ahead, the Bush administration and its European allies will need to strike a difficult balance between firmness and diplomatic suppleness, keeping Russia on board while peacefully completing the inevitable disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. At stake are the stability of the Balkans and the future identity of Europe. link Edited by: Stankoisaserb at: 2/1/07 2:44 am

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