EU: Kosovo Must Accept UN Plan

Brussels_ French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner called on Kosovo’s leaders to accept a six point plan that will regulate the United Nation’s future work in Kosovo and pave the way for the deployment of the EU’s Rule of Law Mission, EULEX.

“The UN system has been more or less accepted by the Serbs. It must be now accepted by Kosovars,” Kouchner said on Monday after a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers. “We need this document to send EULEX,” he added.

The UN secretary general is due to make a statement on Kosovo and EULEX’s deployment on Tuesday. While the Serbian side has agreed on the proposed six points, Kosovo’s leaders are not ready to do the same because they argue the proposed points go against the Ahtisaari plan (for Kosovo's independence) and Kosovo’s constitution.

But the French foreign minister argues that Kosovo’s leaders must accept the document in order to allow a reconfigured UN to operate in Kosovo, and hence pave the way for EULEX’s deployment in the whole of the country.

“They (Kosovo’s leaders) believe we must respect the national integrity of Kosovo and that is why we need EULEX,” said Kouchner.

And while Brussels has expressed hope that EULEX will become operational in December, Kouchner warned that this may not be possible if there is no agreement between the UN and Belgrade on one side and the UN and Pristina on the other. “We’ll see if we can start in December,” he said.

Defence ministers met in Brussels at the margins of the foreign ministers’ meeting and adopted a declaration which welcomes the ongoing preparation for the EULEX mission, so that “during December 2008, they can start to implement the mandate”.