Tuesday, October 14, 2008

EU foreign ministers welcome Kosovo recognition by Montenegro, Macedonia



14/10/2008

LUXEMBOURG -- EU foreign ministers on Monday (October 13th) welcomed decisions by Montenegro and Macedonia to recognise Kosovo's independence. During a meeting in Luxembourg, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Serbia "will soon return to reality" after reacting to both countries' move by expelling their ambassadors from Belgrade.

Meanwhile, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said Podgorica's decision to recognise Kosovo's independence was not a result of foreign pressure. "We took into consideration our country's need to strengthen our partnership with EU and NATO members," he noted.

Opponents of the move staged another rally, this one in Podgorica, late Monday. More than 30 people suffered injuries, a third of them police officers, when clashes erupted between demonstrators and security personnel guarding the parliament building and nearby side streets.

There were 35 arrests. Opposition politicians demanded that the cabinet revoke Kosovo's recognition and schedule a referendum on the issue. Short of that, President Filip Vujanovic should call early elections by year's end, the opposition said.

Separately Monday, Nebojsa Medojevic, leader of the opposition Movement for Change, said recognition of Kosovo jeopardises stability in the Balkans. "[The government] cannot be expected to contribute to regional stability if it establishes relations with one neighbour while worsening relations with another," Medojevic said (NOTE: Medojevic was strongly supported by Albanian political leaders in Tuz when he ran for president).

(Zeri, Koha Ditore, Express Vijesti, Politika, Pobjeda, BBC, Euronews - 14/10/08; RTK, Beta, Tanjug, RTCG, B92, Makfax, MIA, AFP, Reuters, DPA - 13/10/08)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Milo is speaking out of his ass ... of course there was pressure to recognize Kosova; if he hadn't the MLA would have seized parliament!!

Anonymous said...

The MLA? Don't kid yourself.

I highly doubt Albanians in Montenegro would be willing to go to war over Kosovo's recognition. Again, it's easy to say shit like this when living in the outside.

Anonymous said...

In 1998 they said the same thing about the KLA.

Its not going to war over Kosova's recognition, where did you get that impression?

Its going to war over the internal injustices committed against Albanains in Montenegro.

And just a reminder, this shit is being said while typing in my living room in Konik -- inside.

Anonymous said...

Dude, don't kid yourself. You're no more sitting in your living room in Konik than I am typing from my laptop in Cem, with a wireless card. Brrr it's cold!

The situation in Kosovo 10 years ago was far different, and you know it. Again, don't kid yourself. Any talk of an MLA is only going to stir the pot even more and lead to police with itchy trigger fingers.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you can do without the "dude" in your vocabulary, and by your use of it, I agree that you are not in Cem or near it.

And if you were, I'd ask you to meet me in Tuz tonight or tomorrow to prove my residence.

The situation in Kosova 10 years ago had similar ingredients to what is going on here, and esp in Macedonia -- you have a majority that is using its elitism to maintain teh status quo by suppressing the integration of teh minority. And those that are integrated are stripped of the right to advocate for their minority righst status'

There is no kidding here, just straight reality. And if police have itchy trigger fingers, well then now are they any different than the Serbs were ... ?