From
Der Spiegel's interview with Dusan Reljic, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) on the meaning of Kosovo's declaration of independence:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Was this since Bush visited Albania and spoke in support of Kosovo independence?
Reljic: I don't think the Bush administration paid a lot of attention to Kosovo until the last 18 months. Basically Kosovo's separation from Serbia is not the result of an uprising by the Kosovo-Albanians, it's the result of the NATO intervention of 1999. Once the US started this intervention, although (former President Bill) Clinton said that the intention was not to create a new state, in the end it lead to the creation of a new entity because that was the inherent logic of intervention.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What do you think of the argument often made by the West that Kosovo could not go back under Serbian administration after the UN had taken over there?
Reljic: This argument is not valid. The UN has taken over in many areas of the world and not all of them have become secessionist countries. But the road to solving this problem in the UN has been closed now. Which means that we see another weakening of the global system. And this will encourage many to seek unilateral decisions and outcomes and they will use force to do so.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: So it will encourage more separatist movements?
Reljic: It doesn't have to be separatists. It will encourage all forces that think that violence might be a means to fulfil their political aims.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The EU has offered the perspective of membership to both sides, Serbia and Kosovo. Can this make a difference?
Reljic: Although there is a nominal declaration by the EU that in future these countries might become part of the EU, I don't see any tangible way now, for both Serbia and Kosovo to become members. Kosovo is an EU protectorate now. So is the EU going to negotiate with itself about membership of the EU?
SPIEGEL ONLINE: And Serbia?
Reljic: Serbia will insist that Kosovo is part of its territory. It will become extremely difficult for the EU to negotiate anything with Serbia in the future.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Has this weakened Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic?
Reljic: Definitely. It has weakened all pro-European parties, pro-European powers in the region. The soft power of the EU relies on adherence to international law and peaceful outcomes and solutions. And none of this has happened in Kosovo. What we have seen is that violence pays. And this weakens all those people who think that the main value of the European Union is law and peace in international relations.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How will this effect future cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague?
Reljic: The Hague court is part of UN law. So I think that future compliance with the demands from The Hague will be weakened as well.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Because the UN's role has been undermined?
Reljic: Yes, its reputation and role and even the instruments it has on the ground.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What will happen when the EU mission arrives?
Reljic: Like UNMIK (the UN mission in Kosovo) the new EU mission has huge executive powers, which really means that Kosovo is not independent. It's not sovereign, it's run by the EU. It's really a protectorate, a neo-colonial situation.
There's already an interesting reaction in Canada, according to Reuters: Kosovo's declaration of independence is a headache for Canada, which needs to find a way of recognizing the new state without boosting the fortunes of separatists in its French-speaking province of Quebec.
While major allies such as the United States, Britain and France quickly recognized the ethnic Albanian state despite objections from Serbia, Ottawa barely reacted.
"We note that the Parliament of Kosovo has adopted a declaration of independence. We are assessing the situation," said a foreign ministry spokesman.
Polls indicate that around half of Quebecers support the idea of independence for the province of 7.5 million.
Quebec governments run by the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ) held referendums on breaking away from Canada in 1980 and 1995 but both failed, the last one very narrowly.
The Parti Quebecois, now in opposition in the Quebec provincial legislature, said that if Canada recognizes a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo it would have to treat a similar move by Quebec the same way.
