"Conditioning EU accession with Kosovo is unfair"

BELGRADE Tying the Kosovo solution to Serbia’s EU membership is not good and can only complicate the situation, believes Innsbruck University professor Hans Kehler. “This is not only contrary to good manners but it is some sort of blackmail as well because Serbia’s aspiration to join the EU is one thing and the other is to reach an agreement on a very difficult conflict about sovereignty. It is not fair to mix those things,” Kehler told Tanjug. "Conditioning EU accession with Kosovo is unfair" He believes that a solution for Kosovo should be found in a compromise between two extreme solutions – that it is independent and that it is a part of Serbia. The Innsbruck University professor points out that the partition could be a fair solution but that it required Kosovo Albanians to accept the fact that Serbs in the north would have the right to decide to be a part of Serbia. “This is a classic compromise but it would require rational thinking and cool heads on both sides. This is a rational solution that of course requires that emotions be excluded,” Kehler explained. When asked if it was possible for Serbia to join the EU without resolving the Kosovo issue, he said that it would be a problem for the EU “but there should be no double standards”. “If the EU thinks that all problems should be solved before a country joins the EU, then one needs to ask why Cyprus was accepted as a full-fledged member when the issue of its sovereignty still has not been solved,” Kehler said. “I think that setting conditions for Serbia is only making the situation more complicated. It would be effective if the EU encouraged both sides, Serbs and Albanians, to agree on a compromise, to take the middle way between two extremes. This is the only rational thing to do,” he concluded. Tanjug

"Conditioning EU accession with Kosovo is unfair"

He believes that a solution for Kosovo should be found in a compromise between two extreme solutions – that it is independent and that it is a part of Serbia.

The Innsbruck University professor points out that the partition could be a fair solution but that it required Kosovo Albanians to accept the fact that Serbs in the north would have the right to decide to be a part of Serbia.

“This is a classic compromise but it would require rational thinking and cool heads on both sides. This is a rational solution that of course requires that emotions be excluded,” Kehler explained.

When asked if it was possible for Serbia to join the EU without resolving the Kosovo issue, he said that it would be a problem for the EU “but there should be no double standards”.

“If the EU thinks that all problems should be solved before a country joins the EU, then one needs to ask why Cyprus was accepted as a full-fledged member when the issue of its sovereignty still has not been solved,” Kehler said.

“I think that setting conditions for Serbia is only making the situation more complicated. It would be effective if the EU encouraged both sides, Serbs and Albanians, to agree on a compromise, to take the middle way between two extremes. This is the only rational thing to do,” he concluded.