Romania opposes Kosovo’s independence

i would like to object to the coments that claim B92 is posting partizan views. It is an article about facts that happened and an opinion of an FM . You need to understand that Romanians have a stiff atitude about this issue and the present governing is not going to change it due to various historical and political reasons. Firstly Romanians think that they have had only two loyal allies throughout hystory: the Black Sea and Serbia. Secondly by recognising independence based on ethnic reasons will create a precedent that may affect in the future the situation in Covasna and Harghita where ethnic hungarians are predominant and increasingly seclusive . In truth any government that takes this kind of decision will lose it's support of the electorate with imediate effect as it will be regarded as a threat to national integrity and disrupting the only proven relationship with a trustworthy ally. This was one of the reasons that the goverment of Emil Constantinescu lost support with agreeing to support NATO's intervention in Kosovo in the first place.
Romania may seem like a puppetr for the western powers but it has it's own interests and opinions and can not go over them only for the sake of making it's allies happy.
Regards from Dubai

Everyone wants to choose the gun instead of talks. It seems everyone will listen then. It has been 7 years since the kosovo air war and nothing has changed. The albanians want there own country but cannot even provide power to the people and they riot because the power is off and why because they don't pay there bills make sense?? The people are use to power being there because Belgrade would provide for all even if you did not pay. Now KEK wants money or they will sell the power outside to make money and to hell with the people in kosovo. To sum this up, Romania has said it should not be granted and that is there opinion so for those who chime in with there opinons please B92 continue to publish them do not listen to those whose heads are stuck in the dirt and cannot see the light.

Hello Folks.

Who cares about the opinion of Romanian ambassador.
Kosovo is not in the position of the mercy of every opinion. Please : what is the role of Romania in this independet process ? We know that is bitter for some countries to accept that because thay dont have a clear hands in their places but it can bee MUCH bitter if we ignore the trouth, the reality and the intention of one nation to become independent. Please B92 , be more objectif and face the trouth, dont continue supporting the false. Recognise that there are no much chances for Serbia to keep the hand in Kosovo. Try to make understand to your peoples that trouth, and not just keep giving them the false hopes that is still possible to imagine the Kosovo within Serbia. You have to help the kosovar serbians to build a normal life in their authentic born places by reconsiliation with albanians, by accepting their right to be independent and asking them to protect in all the ways that thay can the rights of serbs and no-way by telling the untrouth story. Is not fear from serbian politicians to use them for their election campagne. Not to let them live in peace and gouvern their places. Is a shame to stop their integration in the Kosovar institutions, to not them decide their futur. Thay are ashamed by Belgrade to collaborate with albanians. Thay just become an instrument of the manipulation of Belgrade. Please think twice and look in another point of view the reality, not just in the Belgrades politican way, maybe it will help you to pass throuth this hard situation for the serbian nation.
Best regards . MEL from BRUSSELS

Nobody is interested in Romanian opinion regarding kosova. Romanians are afride that this may happen to them in Covasna ,Hargita ,brasove, from Hungarians ,yeah well it may happen if you start killing them and deny their right to live.If the Ambassador is a reall patriot he would rise his voice and ask for right of Aromani,(Vllahi)where there are 1.2 milion Vllahi, with even no elemntary school in their own language.I never understood why romania is ready to "sale"give-up on 1.2milion Vllahi to serbians ,where un-officially serbians call romanians no otherwise than gipssies .where is all this loyalty coming from!?.
with 1.2 milion Vllahi (I'm well informed because i was closeto president of Vllahi in Klavodo),and with more than 1 milion hungariens ,and 300 000 from saxhak,and more than300 000 albanians in presevo vally,and with montenegriens and macedonians more than half a milion. Mr Ambassador it you really wanna see Serbia as democratic and multy ethnic country you should support kosova independence .I don'd think that Serbians wants to have their half parlament with Albanians representative.I want everybody to have a good picture that there is no such thing like broad autonomy,or like Tiwan and China,these are idiotic and unrealistic ideas .An independent Kosova it is the best solution for Kosova ,also for Serbia And for the region stability.

This is not about Kosova. This about the Hungarians of Romania and about Moldova.
Romania does not care about Kosova and Serbia.
The Serbs have found ways to convince some of the Romanian diplomats and politicians that Kosova's independence is a risk with consequences for Romania.

In fact it isn't.

As soon as Romania understands that the international community will accept Kosova only as a unique case that can not be used as a precedent solution to other ethnical conflicts, it will change its stance.

It is not a big deal anyway. When Greece and Bulgaria recognizes Kosova, Romanian consent will be only a formality.

Well, well... I did carefully read all the comments: interesting opinions, though controversial. I, as an Albanian from Kosova, do care of Romanian position regarding the Kosovas final status, though it should be realistic. Romania, as other neighbouring countries, the west Europe and USA should be more flexible when it comes to Kosovas status definition, as Kosova is a specific case, not only in the region but in both Europe and Asia, and as such, should be treated in a specific way - to grant unconditional independence, which would galanty minority rights as well (what unfortunately is not the case with Albanians, Romanians, Hungarians etc. in Serbia).
H

Hi all. Thank you for your comments.
Do you think that Serbia can still hang-on the Kosovo ?

I'm afraid that not, is just wasting time and money for an inrealising dream. No one disegree that Kosovo is the hart of the serbian religion and nation but you must not forghet that it is also the hart and the body of the dardanians, ancient name of albanians from Kosovo. If we take a look at history, it doesent start at the years 1300 but more before, so then the Illirians are the oldest habitants of those parts of the balkans, even more before the arrival of the slavs from the Kaukazian montains.
If you take a look at the present demogaphy is clear that Kosovo is 90 % of albanians. So mens, stop telling enything. Is nostalgic for serbs to surrender the Kosovo but you must do it. Serbia is more bigger than Kosovo. Try to manage your own country instead to disturb your albanian neiboughs. Best regards . MEL from BRUSSELS

if independence like romania is suggesting is not given even if now it is being conducted in a negotiated peaceful way, this is a message to all countries, regions in EU to start fighting because only this way things become equal for everybody.
Why romania don't say if it is not given fighting will continue forever. they better see their own country, and try not to repeat mistake of serbia, because if it happens they are gone give independence even if they don't like.
And each country which have minorities, should not say we dont give independence if it happens to us becuase they are opening their grave to their own country.

Who cares? As long as US, England, France, Italy, Germany are for independence, the rest may just have to eat their words and follow the flock.

That is just a statement for political consumption. You will be surprised at how quickly that stance will change once John Bolton "relays" to them the American position. But this article definetely warrants an essay from Blag and Princip on how countries "are starting to oppose independence".

Sigh. Mel, please realize B92 is not some Serbian propaganda machine. Check yesterday's news and you'll see they printed an article about the Czech foreign minster saying they may recognize Kosovo's independence even if declared unilaterially. So you see, information comes in both forms on this news site. B92 just reports the news as it comes in. But of course since something apparently didn't agree with you, the news source must HAVE to be intentionally biased and keeping Serbs in the dark. Read up next time before you make some long-winded spiel about the region.

And speaking of which, we have the Czech FM saying they'll recognize Kosovo, and the Romanian FM saying they won't. How about we start a global vote and see who wins the majority? Ah, true democracy in action!

Hi Guys,
I agree that no one cares what Romania has got to say and that big powers will decide future of Kosovo.
But those big powers should take into count not only what Milosevic did last 10 years of his life.
Take into count who was ally in 2 world wars. When Nazis occupied Slovenia’s capital people were greeting them with flowers, the same happened in Croatian capital, only in Belgrade they moved in and found empty streets and no flowers, but resistance to Hitler’s regime. Never forget 1,000,000 Serbs gave their life in World War 1 and 2,000,000 in World War 2.
Albanians could study language for the last 60 years like in Albania but that probably was not enough.
Kosovo independence is bad for Macedonia that has 1/3 of Albanians who are following Kosovo resolution closely and waiting for a right moment to join big Albania.
Form of wide autonomy within Serbian borders is the best solution, don’t we want Borderless EU anyway.

Countless number of Monasteries and Churches were burnt and no one ever punished Albanians for that. Kosovo is heart of Serbian religion and it can not reside outside of its body.

Best Regards from European in Australia.

RE:

Mel, do the citizens of the Serb Republic in Bosnia have that same right? If no, why not? is it because they are Serbs? Funny how everyone seems to have all these rights except for Serbs which seem to have none at all. Everyone wants to play a game of words, and everyone seems to know what they are talking about, but when people use your own words and arguments against you, you look confused. This is all a game of divide and conqeur by the big powers. Yugoslavia's wars were totally avoidable and none of the peoples living there wanted them. It all started with the collapse of the soviet union and the Wests plan to "divide and conquer". We now have Serbia (Russia's ally) in one corner, and a bunch of puppet states who follow the orders of the West. The only problem now, is that the Wests empire is on the decline, while Russia is regaining its global influence. Its very easy to notice now how talk of independence is much more TABOO now than it was a few years ago. If the current trend continues, we got a whole different ball game.

Is the answer to the quest for peaceful coexistence between different cultures the isolation of each culture in its own nation? What happens when the sub-cultures within each of these mono-culture nations want their own nation too? Will the world map of the future show tens of thousands of city-states?

My father grew up in a Romanian (Orthodox) neighborhood of Omaha, adjacent to a Polish neighborhood. (My grandfather emigrated from Dolovo, Austro-Hungary in 1916 at the age of 13). Much of the US is like that, with groups of people with common backgrounds living in proximity. The Romanians lived with each other because of what they had in common, as did the Polish. And the two groups lived near each other because of what they had in common - they were all recent immigrants. Perhaps what makes this possible in the US is the lack anyone has for a claim to any piece of geography here. There are no 1,000 year old memories of battles won or lost on some battlefield that's now a parking lot for the immigrants to tussle over. This nation's battle memories are about the revoulution, the American civil war, and the wars between the indigent people and the first European immigrants (invaders). After the indians were placed on reservations, the newcomers had a "blank" land they could share.

Perhaps that is the solution? A level playing field for everyone! Just as many sports require individuals or teams to alternate sides of the playing field or court, let's do the same for life's competitors. We could divide the earth into trapezoids of latitude and longitude and swap people around until no one lives anywhere that their ancestors had ever stood. Everyone would be miserable, the definition of a true compromise.

I'm only joking, of course. When life seems so sad, I need to laugh. Sometimes I wish the world would wake up one day without a history.

getting any country to agree is much hareder than you guys thought it would ever be.

ION:I never understood why romania is ready to "sale"give-up on 1.2milion Vllahi to serbians ,where un-officially serbians call romanians no otherwise than gipssies .where is all this loyalty coming from!?.
with 1.2 milion Vllahi (I'm well informed because i was closeto president of Vllahi in Klavodo),and with more than 1 milion hungariens ,and 300 000 from saxhak,and more than300 000 albanians in presevo vally,and with montenegriens and macedonians more than half a milion"
On all this i can say just LOL! 1 million Vlahs in Serbia?!? 300.000 Albanians in Preshevo? Maybe on Mars but definitely not in Serbia! Read census results from 2002.

I cannot understand the dangerous decision to accept the independence of Kosovo,and allow this to happen regardless of the Serbian country borders.Russia is supporting Serbia,and many countries also.Remember how the WW1 started?Russia supported Serbia...and we know what happened next,how can you say it will stabilize the region? I live in Romania and know how sensible the situation is.I hope in peace,USA and UE should mind of their own business and stay out of others affairs.

Nobody is interested in Romanian opinion regarding kosova. Romanians are afride that this may happen to them in Covasna ,Hargita ,brasove, from Hungarians ,yeah well it may happen if you start killing them and deny their right to live.If the Ambassador is a reall patriot he would rise his voice and ask for right of Aromani,(Vllahi)where there are 1.2 milion Vllahi, with even no elemntary school in their own language.I never understood why romania is ready to "sale"give-up on 1.2milion Vllahi to serbians ,where un-officially serbians call romanians no otherwise than gipssies .where is all this loyalty coming from!?.
with 1.2 milion Vllahi (I'm well informed because i was closeto president of Vllahi in Klavodo),and with more than 1 milion hungariens ,and 300 000 from saxhak,and more than300 000 albanians in presevo vally,and with montenegriens and macedonians more than half a milion. Mr Ambassador it you really wanna see Serbia as democratic and multy ethnic country you should support kosova independence .I don'd think that Serbians wants to have their half parlament with Albanians representative.I want everybody to have a good picture that there is no such thing like broad autonomy,or like Tiwan and China,these are idiotic and unrealistic ideas .An independent Kosova it is the best solution for Kosova ,also for Serbia And for the region stability.

Who cares? As long as US, England, France, Italy, Germany are for independence, the rest may just have to eat their words and follow the flock.

Hello Folks.

Who cares about the opinion of Romanian ambassador.
Kosovo is not in the position of the mercy of every opinion. Please : what is the role of Romania in this independet process ? We know that is bitter for some countries to accept that because thay dont have a clear hands in their places but it can bee MUCH bitter if we ignore the trouth, the reality and the intention of one nation to become independent. Please B92 , be more objectif and face the trouth, dont continue supporting the false. Recognise that there are no much chances for Serbia to keep the hand in Kosovo. Try to make understand to your peoples that trouth, and not just keep giving them the false hopes that is still possible to imagine the Kosovo within Serbia. You have to help the kosovar serbians to build a normal life in their authentic born places by reconsiliation with albanians, by accepting their right to be independent and asking them to protect in all the ways that thay can the rights of serbs and no-way by telling the untrouth story. Is not fear from serbian politicians to use them for their election campagne. Not to let them live in peace and gouvern their places. Is a shame to stop their integration in the Kosovar institutions, to not them decide their futur. Thay are ashamed by Belgrade to collaborate with albanians. Thay just become an instrument of the manipulation of Belgrade. Please think twice and look in another point of view the reality, not just in the Belgrades politican way, maybe it will help you to pass throuth this hard situation for the serbian nation.
Best regards . MEL from BRUSSELS

This is not about Kosova. This about the Hungarians of Romania and about Moldova.
Romania does not care about Kosova and Serbia.
The Serbs have found ways to convince some of the Romanian diplomats and politicians that Kosova's independence is a risk with consequences for Romania.

In fact it isn't.

As soon as Romania understands that the international community will accept Kosova only as a unique case that can not be used as a precedent solution to other ethnical conflicts, it will change its stance.

It is not a big deal anyway. When Greece and Bulgaria recognizes Kosova, Romanian consent will be only a formality.

ION:I never understood why romania is ready to "sale"give-up on 1.2milion Vllahi to serbians ,where un-officially serbians call romanians no otherwise than gipssies .where is all this loyalty coming from!?.
with 1.2 milion Vllahi (I'm well informed because i was closeto president of Vllahi in Klavodo),and with more than 1 milion hungariens ,and 300 000 from saxhak,and more than300 000 albanians in presevo vally,and with montenegriens and macedonians more than half a milion"
On all this i can say just LOL! 1 million Vlahs in Serbia?!? 300.000 Albanians in Preshevo? Maybe on Mars but definitely not in Serbia! Read census results from 2002.

i would like to object to the coments that claim B92 is posting partizan views. It is an article about facts that happened and an opinion of an FM . You need to understand that Romanians have a stiff atitude about this issue and the present governing is not going to change it due to various historical and political reasons. Firstly Romanians think that they have had only two loyal allies throughout hystory: the Black Sea and Serbia. Secondly by recognising independence based on ethnic reasons will create a precedent that may affect in the future the situation in Covasna and Harghita where ethnic hungarians are predominant and increasingly seclusive . In truth any government that takes this kind of decision will lose it's support of the electorate with imediate effect as it will be regarded as a threat to national integrity and disrupting the only proven relationship with a trustworthy ally. This was one of the reasons that the goverment of Emil Constantinescu lost support with agreeing to support NATO's intervention in Kosovo in the first place.
Romania may seem like a puppetr for the western powers but it has it's own interests and opinions and can not go over them only for the sake of making it's allies happy.
Regards from Dubai

Hi Guys,
I agree that no one cares what Romania has got to say and that big powers will decide future of Kosovo.
But those big powers should take into count not only what Milosevic did last 10 years of his life.
Take into count who was ally in 2 world wars. When Nazis occupied Slovenia’s capital people were greeting them with flowers, the same happened in Croatian capital, only in Belgrade they moved in and found empty streets and no flowers, but resistance to Hitler’s regime. Never forget 1,000,000 Serbs gave their life in World War 1 and 2,000,000 in World War 2.
Albanians could study language for the last 60 years like in Albania but that probably was not enough.
Kosovo independence is bad for Macedonia that has 1/3 of Albanians who are following Kosovo resolution closely and waiting for a right moment to join big Albania.
Form of wide autonomy within Serbian borders is the best solution, don’t we want Borderless EU anyway.

Countless number of Monasteries and Churches were burnt and no one ever punished Albanians for that. Kosovo is heart of Serbian religion and it can not reside outside of its body.

Best Regards from European in Australia.

RE:

Mel, do the citizens of the Serb Republic in Bosnia have that same right? If no, why not? is it because they are Serbs? Funny how everyone seems to have all these rights except for Serbs which seem to have none at all. Everyone wants to play a game of words, and everyone seems to know what they are talking about, but when people use your own words and arguments against you, you look confused. This is all a game of divide and conqeur by the big powers. Yugoslavia's wars were totally avoidable and none of the peoples living there wanted them. It all started with the collapse of the soviet union and the Wests plan to "divide and conquer". We now have Serbia (Russia's ally) in one corner, and a bunch of puppet states who follow the orders of the West. The only problem now, is that the Wests empire is on the decline, while Russia is regaining its global influence. Its very easy to notice now how talk of independence is much more TABOO now than it was a few years ago. If the current trend continues, we got a whole different ball game.

I cannot understand the dangerous decision to accept the independence of Kosovo,and allow this to happen regardless of the Serbian country borders.Russia is supporting Serbia,and many countries also.Remember how the WW1 started?Russia supported Serbia...and we know what happened next,how can you say it will stabilize the region? I live in Romania and know how sensible the situation is.I hope in peace,USA and UE should mind of their own business and stay out of others affairs.

if independence like romania is suggesting is not given even if now it is being conducted in a negotiated peaceful way, this is a message to all countries, regions in EU to start fighting because only this way things become equal for everybody.
Why romania don't say if it is not given fighting will continue forever. they better see their own country, and try not to repeat mistake of serbia, because if it happens they are gone give independence even if they don't like.
And each country which have minorities, should not say we dont give independence if it happens to us becuase they are opening their grave to their own country.

That is just a statement for political consumption. You will be surprised at how quickly that stance will change once John Bolton "relays" to them the American position. But this article definetely warrants an essay from Blag and Princip on how countries "are starting to oppose independence".

Sigh. Mel, please realize B92 is not some Serbian propaganda machine. Check yesterday's news and you'll see they printed an article about the Czech foreign minster saying they may recognize Kosovo's independence even if declared unilaterially. So you see, information comes in both forms on this news site. B92 just reports the news as it comes in. But of course since something apparently didn't agree with you, the news source must HAVE to be intentionally biased and keeping Serbs in the dark. Read up next time before you make some long-winded spiel about the region.

And speaking of which, we have the Czech FM saying they'll recognize Kosovo, and the Romanian FM saying they won't. How about we start a global vote and see who wins the majority? Ah, true democracy in action!

Is the answer to the quest for peaceful coexistence between different cultures the isolation of each culture in its own nation? What happens when the sub-cultures within each of these mono-culture nations want their own nation too? Will the world map of the future show tens of thousands of city-states?

My father grew up in a Romanian (Orthodox) neighborhood of Omaha, adjacent to a Polish neighborhood. (My grandfather emigrated from Dolovo, Austro-Hungary in 1916 at the age of 13). Much of the US is like that, with groups of people with common backgrounds living in proximity. The Romanians lived with each other because of what they had in common, as did the Polish. And the two groups lived near each other because of what they had in common - they were all recent immigrants. Perhaps what makes this possible in the US is the lack anyone has for a claim to any piece of geography here. There are no 1,000 year old memories of battles won or lost on some battlefield that's now a parking lot for the immigrants to tussle over. This nation's battle memories are about the revoulution, the American civil war, and the wars between the indigent people and the first European immigrants (invaders). After the indians were placed on reservations, the newcomers had a "blank" land they could share.

Perhaps that is the solution? A level playing field for everyone! Just as many sports require individuals or teams to alternate sides of the playing field or court, let's do the same for life's competitors. We could divide the earth into trapezoids of latitude and longitude and swap people around until no one lives anywhere that their ancestors had ever stood. Everyone would be miserable, the definition of a true compromise.

I'm only joking, of course. When life seems so sad, I need to laugh. Sometimes I wish the world would wake up one day without a history.

Everyone wants to choose the gun instead of talks. It seems everyone will listen then. It has been 7 years since the kosovo air war and nothing has changed. The albanians want there own country but cannot even provide power to the people and they riot because the power is off and why because they don't pay there bills make sense?? The people are use to power being there because Belgrade would provide for all even if you did not pay. Now KEK wants money or they will sell the power outside to make money and to hell with the people in kosovo. To sum this up, Romania has said it should not be granted and that is there opinion so for those who chime in with there opinons please B92 continue to publish them do not listen to those whose heads are stuck in the dirt and cannot see the light.

Well, well... I did carefully read all the comments: interesting opinions, though controversial. I, as an Albanian from Kosova, do care of Romanian position regarding the Kosovas final status, though it should be realistic. Romania, as other neighbouring countries, the west Europe and USA should be more flexible when it comes to Kosovas status definition, as Kosova is a specific case, not only in the region but in both Europe and Asia, and as such, should be treated in a specific way - to grant unconditional independence, which would galanty minority rights as well (what unfortunately is not the case with Albanians, Romanians, Hungarians etc. in Serbia).
H

getting any country to agree is much hareder than you guys thought it would ever be.

Hi all. Thank you for your comments.
Do you think that Serbia can still hang-on the Kosovo ?

I'm afraid that not, is just wasting time and money for an inrealising dream. No one disegree that Kosovo is the hart of the serbian religion and nation but you must not forghet that it is also the hart and the body of the dardanians, ancient name of albanians from Kosovo. If we take a look at history, it doesent start at the years 1300 but more before, so then the Illirians are the oldest habitants of those parts of the balkans, even more before the arrival of the slavs from the Kaukazian montains.
If you take a look at the present demogaphy is clear that Kosovo is 90 % of albanians. So mens, stop telling enything. Is nostalgic for serbs to surrender the Kosovo but you must do it. Serbia is more bigger than Kosovo. Try to manage your own country instead to disturb your albanian neiboughs. Best regards . MEL from BRUSSELS