Dienstbier: Recognition of Kosovo is a recipe for long instability in Europe
Former UN envoy for human rights in the former Yugoslavia Jiri Dienstbier strongly opposed Kosovo’s independence and warned that its recognition could bring long instability to the whole of Europe and beyond.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Wednesday, April 02, 2008
"If you allow once to have borders changed on the basis of an ethnic principle, how could you prevent others?, Dienstbier asked.
"You can feel that already throughout Europe - South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Republika Srpska, Macedonia, Catalonia, Transylvania and even Quebec. ntionalists are very happy because of Kosovo", Dienstbier said.
"It is simply ridiculous to believe some politicians who claim that Kosovo is a unique case", the former UN envoy said.
He added that a majority of his fellow Czechs were against Kosovo's secession.
Meanwhile, the Czech Christian Democratic Party, a member of the coalition government, on Tuesday reiterated its refusal to recognize "at this moment and under the current circumstances" the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo.
The party's leadership decided that the issue of Serbia's southern province requires further debate, and that this is why its ministers will not back the proposal on the recognition of Kosovo if Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg presents it to the government on Wednesday.
If the recognition of Kosovo is put before the government, our ministers will not support it, the Christian Democrats' first deputy president, Roman Linek, said after the leadership meeting.
The Czech Christian Democrats believe that the recognition of Kosovo could, at this moment, create instability in the region. They also fear it could violate borders created following World War Two and worsen the good relations between the Czech Republic and Serbia, which have a tradition stemming from the former Yugoslavia, the Czech press said.
The Christian Democrats also believe that the recognition of Kosovo wold create a precedent which will cause a domino effect with other separatist movements.
