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Kosovo: The Politics of Statehood
Last July, the international court of justice ruled that Kosovo’s declaration of independence was legal. The ruling provides a huge boost to the fledgling Balkan state as it attempts to legitimise support for its status as an independent nation.
However, the fact remains that over 100 UN member states have still not recognised Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, including two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China.
On a more local level, five of the 27 EU states have refused to recognise the declaration of independence. Clearly the international community is far from reaching a consensus. The issue remains, can Kosovo obtain full independence and what effect will this issue have on the Balkans and Europe?
The background to Kosovo’s independence claim is a bloody one. In 1998 through 1999, a conflict erupted between Serbian forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army. The KLA had the support of the ethnic Albanian population of the region and fought for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia.
This precipitated NATO intervention and Serbian forces were driven back from Kosovo. For the next decade, Kosovo’s status was that of “international protectorate” with security provided by NATO peacekeepers on the ground.
In February 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and gradually adopted a constitution, national anthem, national flag, and created a national passport, army and intelligence agency.
However, with Serbia refusing to recognise Kosovo as anything other than a part of its national territory, the main difficulty facing Kosovo was international recognition.
Serbia’s viewpoint is that Kosovo is a “fictitious state”, created through violence. Indeed the Serbian government’s website states that, “As long as the Serbian people exist, Kosovo is Serbia”.
Currently, Kosovo is a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and has been officially recognised by 69 countries including heavyweights like the USA, France, Germany and the UK.
The key issue underpinning reactions to Kosovo’s declaration of independence is the conflict between the principle of the right to self-determination, and the sovereignty of national territory.
The countries that recognise Kosovo’s independence generally feel that continued Serbian rule over a region, whose population of 2m is 90% ethnically Albanian, is untenable. In the context of the dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation during the 1990s, and the failure of negotiations to find a solution, these countries accepted the Kosovars’ right to self-determination.
As already mentioned, of the 27 EU nations, five have refused to recognise Kosovo’s independence. These are Spain, Cyprus, Slovakia, Romania and Greece. The principal concern of these countries is that minority groups or regions in their own countries may follow the lead of Kosovo and unilaterally announce their independence.
Spain, for example, has a number of regions including Catalonia and the Basque country, whose nationalists espouse autonomy or independence from Spain.
The issue of national sovereignty is also at the forefront of Cypriot concerns. While the Greek Cypriot South of the island is officially recognised globally, the Turkish Cypriot North is recognised only by Turkey. Like Spain, unilateral declarations of independence are something Cyprus does not want to encourage.
Outside the EU, Russia is also firmly against the acceptance of Kosovo as an independent nation. While Russia has issues on its doorstep in relation to breakaway regions, specifically the pro-Russian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, it is a traditional ally of Serbia. It supports Belgrade’s stance on Kosovo and can use its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to veto any future attempts to grant Kosovo member state status.
The issue of independence for Kosovo is divisive. The EU has adopted a general stance of close relations with Kosovo and support for increased autonomy without openly calling for its independence to be recognised.
With all members being politically equal, the EU has to respect the perspective of its five member states unwilling to recognise Kosovo and has therefore left the issue of recognition up to each individual member state.
The key for the EU is to ensure that its actions assist in stabilising the Balkan region which has suffered so greatly in the past twenty years and facilitate the eventual accession of the Balkan states to the EU.
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