Free Kosovo - divided Europe
Thursday - Dec 20, 2007 - 12:23 AM
The United Europe idea is being challenged again. Even though Serbia is not yet part of the European Union, there are not so distant plans to invite them to the EU. For the moment a reverse process seems to be in action. It looks like Kosovo, currently part of Serbia, is getting ready to declare its independence over this holiday season. Despite protest from the Serbian government and Russia, the separation will most likely take place within the next couple of weeks. Kosovo is inhabited mostly by Albanians (90%) and only about 10% of the population are Serbs. After the military conflicts in the Balkans in the nineties, the international community has every reason to be concerned about such a move. What actually enables Kosovo to go ahead and separate from Serbia is a large military presence on NATO peace-keeping forces in that region. Additionally in light of recent development, the European Union has decided to send a few hundreds of policemen into Kosovo to support the international peace-keeping effort.
The future of the European Union is questioned by some analysts. Main reason is the national and ethnic identity confrontations which lead to many tragic outcomes in the past. Since its creation the European Union has been extremely careful about protecting the rights of national and ethnic minorities. Despite those efforts, it seems like groups that have enough resources; support and often courage try to break away. Even today, at the very heart of the EU, in Belgium, the north of the country (Flanders) wants to separate from the southern part (Wallonia). Czechoslovakia had to split into Czech Republic and Slovakia before each was invited to join the EU. The Union is definitely moving forward from political and economic point of view, but the separatist movements in some of the member and neighboring countries cut right into the heart of the idea that united Europe in the first place.
source: BBC News
