Today's Date:

No European can forget the atrocities that took place in the Balkans during the 1990s. No European can forget the scenes of brutality, murder and mass deportation. At the moment when the fate of Kosovo returns to the forefront of international attention, no European should forget the tragic events that motivated the international community to intervene: we are confronted today with the last stage in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

The region's return to stability and normality has been thanks in large part to the action of the European Union: European countries have contributed international troops and police as well as significant financial assistance to the Balkans. And the perspective of entering Europe has encouraged the countries of the region to adopt crucial reforms.

That commitment to ensuring the stability of Europe and the future of the Balkans must today guide our approach to Kosovo. The approach we take must also recognize the particular circumstances of Kosovo's recent history and the unique nature of this issue.

When the UN Security Council brought the Kosovo conflict to a close in 1999, it provided for a political process to resolve Kosovo's status. That process culminated earlier this year. After 14 months of painstaking talks between Belgrade and Priština, UN Special Envoy Martii Ahtisaari carefully crafted his own package balancing as best he could the two sides' positions. His proposals recognize the aspirations of the overwhelming majority of Kosovo's population for independence while also providing extensive protections to the Kosovo Serbs.

This spring we worked intensively in the Security Council on a resolution that would implement Ahtisaari's proposals and finally resolve Kosovo's future. Russia and Serbia argued that further talks between Belgrade and Priština could deliver an alternative outcome. The Security Council route was blocked, but we had to do everything possible to reach an agreement. At France's initiative, the Contact Group – in which we participate along with our German, Italian, Russian and US partners – proposed the launch of a round of negotiations facilitated by an EU-US-Russia Troika. This round should be the last. The EU representative in the Troika is the outstanding German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has requested that the Contact Group report back to him by 10 December. The UK will host a meeting of Contact Group ministers in New York on 27 September to assess progress.

The parties must approach this new phase of negotiations in a constructive and bold manner. Certain possibilities ought still to be explored and a satisfactory solution for all can perhaps be found. If that is the case, we will support it. The parties must understand that it is in their common interests to work with the Troika to elaborate serious proposals, to ensure progress, and to try to bridge a hitherto unbridgeable gap.

Therefore, as the Contact Group made clear when it launched the new process, if Serbia continues to argue that Ahtisaari's conclusions are unacceptable, then the responsibility falls on Belgrade to come up with alternatives that have some chance of acceptance in Kosovo. Priština, for its part, must also consider how to convince Belgrade and the Kosovo Serbs of its commitment to a multi-ethnic Kosovo, free of any discrimination.

We very much hope that the parties will reach an agreement. But, we also are clear that, if no agreement is possible, Ahtisaari's proposals will in our view remain the best way forward. One thing is certain – the status quo is not a solution. The region remains fragile. Stability, inter-ethnic reconciliation and economic development, more than ever necessary, depend on a clear and final resolution of Kosovo's status.

Kosovo will be a major test for our Common Foreign and Security Policy. We must demonstrate that, despite our differences, despite the eventual difficulties in the Security Council, we are ready to come together to safeguard Kosovo's stability and allow the EU to play its proper role. Our message is clear: Kosovo is a European responsibility from which we will not walk away. It concerns the security of us all. The Union has been planning its most significant civilian deployment yet to be in the territory. When the moment comes, we must be capable of keeping our commitments.

We recognize that Serbia is central to the region's prospects. Our shared view is that Serbia can rapidly join the EU, as soon as the last obstacles have been lifted. In that regard, Belgrade's full cooperation with the International Tribunal in The Hague is essential. We also underline that it is difficult to envisage Serbia being able to enter the EU without the question of Kosovo having been resolved. This is not blackmail, but a statement of fact. Settling the issue of Kosovo's status will not be about "punishing” Serbia, but about a sustainable settlement for all of Kosovo's people and, beyond that, allowing the whole region to finally be able to turn to the future.

The main lesson of the wars of the 1990s is that the international community has a responsibility to act together and resolutely. That is why it is essential that Kosovo's status is settled. We are determined to resolve it. We are equally determined that the EU, which has so much vested in the Balkans, should continue to play a key and decisive role. The external policy of the EU was born in the Balkans; it must not perish in the Balkans./.

M. Kouchner is a former Special Representative to the Secretary General of the United Nations on Kosovo.

Source of English text: British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.