Analysis of the Spanish newspaper: Her Special Problem

Not all problems have a solution, and not everyone offers a solution to satisfy interested parts. Kosovo is a clear example. When a part of the international community with the US at the helm decided to promote the independence of this former Serbian province, it entered a legal garden from which it is hard to get out without overcoming rights principles and breaking promises that were made in wartime. Kosovo has no resemblance to Catalonia, not even Spain to the former Yugoslavia; nor to its history, nor to its political system, even to the problems this Balkan country faced.

The problem that Kosovo's unilateral independence creates is its (exploitation) distinctness, is the idea that, if considered necessary, the international community could break its standards. All this does not mean that Kosovo's independence is not justified, that Albanians of that territory have not gained the right to build a country, but cannot be erased from the fact that it gained independence contrary to the state it belonged to, Serbia, and in open opposition to the promise the international community made in Belgrade when Natos troops entered in 1999. For these motives, the Spanish government, little importance is political language, has always been shown against recognition of Kosovo and has opened many diplomatic debates.

Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and in March 2009, the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced the withdrawal of Spanish troops participating in Kfor, the international mission that supervised the security of the territory. As the diplomatic cables released from Wikipedia and published in 2010 show, the attraction irritated many of the colleagues, especially the American.

A secret cable of American diplomacy signalled that Washington criticised the lack of pre-retire consultations and asked Spain to consult America earlier, in a more transparent form. The document underlines that the Spanish government's explanation was: “has made the decision to withdraw for a year and cannot participate in a mission when Kosovo has declared independence and has been recognised by many countries. ”

The author of this cablegram explains: “Any kind of indifference that the Spanish government supports the dissolution of a country, in regional components, would be very politically sensitive and would promote separatism”.

A decade later, ahead of the challenges of Catalan independence, the October 1st illegal referendum and Article 155's application has caused the situation to deteriorate. So Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has vetoed a joint European Union statement, to be presented at the Balkan summit on 17 May. The reason is that the declaration includes Kosovo. There are four countries that have not known this country: Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia. In an interview, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj insisted there is no possible analogy: “Kosovo and Catalunja have nothing in common. Kosovo is born from the breakup of the Yugoslav Federation, a bloody process, all against all. In the case of Spain, civil and political rights” are respected.

The problem is not analogy. Yugoslavia was disbanded in the 1990s. The country, created as a monarchy after World War I and refounded as a Socialist federation after that second, was made up of 6 republics (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the two autonomous Serbian provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. Kosovo's situation was highly explosive and many experts believe Yugoslavia's wars began there, when Belgrade withdrew its autonomy in 1990 and ended when Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Albanians.

Kosovo is considered the homeland of Serbian nationalism, because the main medieval Orthodox monasteries are located and because the Kosovo field battle took place in 1389, where Serbia lost independence in front of Turks. Kosovo has a population of 10% Serbs and 90% Albanians living in agony under an increasingly unstable apartment. In 1998 it was an open war, and in 1999 Nato intervened with a campaign of bombings against Serbia from March 24th to June 10th. After a period as international protectorates, an anti-Serb massacre that sparked the province in March 2004 forced the international community to decide that things could not continue this way, and after negotiations that did not lead to a pact with Belgrade, Kosovo declared independence.

In 2010, Pristina won a victory when the United Nations International Court of Justice decreed that independence had been legal. This court answered Belgrade-painted question: “The unilateral declaration of the independence of Kosovo's autonomous administration provisional institutions is in line with international law? The 45-page response is summed up with just one: “Hisashi Owada, president of the United Nations Court, formulated it this way: the general international right provides no bans on declarations of independence, and for this reason the February 17th 2008 declaration does not affect international law”.

The problem the Court faced was not only the fact that Kosovo's declaration was unilateral, but also Security Council Resolution 1244 that allowed the entry of international troops and reaffirmed, “respect for member states, the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the states of the region”. The court put an end to this case by 9 votes and 5 against, insisted that its role was not to judge, if there was a right to partition, providing a solution to an irresolute conflict, and repeated several times that it involved a particular situation, a unique, incompatible case for other nations.

Kosovo achieved independence because its citizens suffered a severe attack and, above all, had the support of many powerful countries like America. Since Europe has since 2008 a new state founded against the state criteria it belonged to, following a unilateral declaration of independence and breaking a pledge fulfilled before the Security Council, it is impossible for a Spanish government to feel comfortable with this solution to an insolvent problem, at least until it is accepted by Serbia itself. / El Pais