Report: EU, U.S. look for ways for Kosovo's UN membership

The EU and the U.S. are considering applying the so-called Korean formula on Kosovo, Beta says. The solution used to admit both Korean states into UN membership in 1991 could again be used to recognize the unilateral independence of Kosovo, though Russia had stated at the time that it would not accept such a case happening again, the news agency said in a report. Report: EU, U.S. look for ways for Kosovo's UN membership EU sources told Beta that this "did not mean a specific strategy was being drafted", but that the goal of this "line of thinking" was for more than half of the UN members to recognize Kosovo. Subsequently, the UN Security Council should let the General Assembly rule on UN membership, the sources said. Serbia has said it will employ the opposite strategy – looking to limit the number of states that recognize what Belgrade sees as illegal declaration by the Kosovo Albanians, and going before the General Assembly to receive backing for its case at the ICJ. The agency's Brussels sources explained that they were considering the case of North and South Korea, when the Security Council, after failing to reach consent on admitting Seoul and Pyongyang into membership, agreed to let the UN General Assembly decide the matter. The consent of two thirds of UN members was needed for such a decision, which, Brussels believes, is currently very difficult to imagine as a possibility in the near future in the case of Kosovo, but would take many years. If a more large-scale recognition of Kosovo does not happen, Kosovo could be given the status of a "customs territory," which could allow it backdoor entry into some international organizations, they said. In the meantime, the strategy of the concurrent deployment of UNMIK, KFOR and the EU's soon-to-arrive EULEX mission in Kosovo will continue to be employed, the sources continued. "EULEX has a clear and firm goal to be deployed throughout Kosovo," Beta was told. This is what retired French Gen. Yves de Kermabon, the commander of EULEX, again told the EU Political and Security Committee on the eve of the Easter holidays. Stefan Lehne, a senior EU official in charge of Kosovo, said at the meeting that "dialog with Belgrade was necessary to explain to the Serbian authorities the fundamental task of EULEX", all the more since the "relations between UNMIK and Kosovo Serbs had greatly corroded". During the discussion at the Political and Security Committee, there were comments that the situation in the Serb enclaves was far from good and that "things were even more complex after Belgrade's request that the UN investigate how the excessive use of force by UNMIK and KFOR in Kosovska Mitrovica came about", and the letter on that issue sent by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic to the EU and NATO leadership. According to European diplomatic sources, there is "concern within the EU over the fact that there are still not enough police officers, and partly judges and prosecutors, to enforce the rule of law in Kosovo".

Report: EU, U.S. look for ways for Kosovo's UN membership

EU sources told Beta that this "did not mean a specific strategy was being drafted", but that the goal of this "line of thinking" was for more than half of the UN members to recognize Kosovo.

Subsequently, the UN Security Council should let the General Assembly rule on UN membership, the sources said.

Serbia has said it will employ the opposite strategy – looking to limit the number of states that recognize what Belgrade sees as illegal declaration by the Kosovo Albanians, and going before the General Assembly to receive backing for its case at the ICJ.

The agency's Brussels sources explained that they were considering the case of North and South Korea, when the Security Council, after failing to reach consent on admitting Seoul and Pyongyang into membership, agreed to let the UN General Assembly decide the matter.

The consent of two thirds of UN members was needed for such a decision, which, Brussels believes, is currently very difficult to imagine as a possibility in the near future in the case of Kosovo, but would take many years.

If a more large-scale recognition of Kosovo does not happen, Kosovo could be given the status of a "customs territory," which could allow it backdoor entry into some international organizations, they said.

In the meantime, the strategy of the concurrent deployment of UNMIK, KFOR and the EU's soon-to-arrive EULEX mission in Kosovo will continue to be employed, the sources continued.

"EULEX has a clear and firm goal to be deployed throughout Kosovo," Beta was told.

This is what retired French Gen. Yves de Kermabon, the commander of EULEX, again told the EU Political and Security Committee on the eve of the Easter holidays.

Stefan Lehne, a senior EU official in charge of Kosovo, said at the meeting that "dialog with Belgrade was necessary to explain to the Serbian authorities the fundamental task of EULEX", all the more since the "relations between UNMIK and Kosovo Serbs had greatly corroded".

During the discussion at the Political and Security Committee, there were comments that the situation in the Serb enclaves was far from good and that "things were even more complex after Belgrade's request that the UN investigate how the excessive use of force by UNMIK and KFOR in Kosovska Mitrovica came about", and the letter on that issue sent by Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić to the EU and NATO leadership.

According to European diplomatic sources, there is "concern within the EU over the fact that there are still not enough police officers, and partly judges and prosecutors, to enforce the rule of law in Kosovo".