Diplomatic defeats of Kosovo, Op-Ed by Petar Miletic (Danas)
Kosovo, over the past few months, has lost several diplomatic battles, leading to the frustration of the people of Kosovo, especially the opposition. The high level of support that Kosovo has had over the last fifteen years from Western countries culminated in 2008, when Kosovo declared independence. However, in recent months, this support failed when it came to several important foreign policy initiatives, the UNESCO candidacy for Kosovo, visa liberalization, membership in the International Court of Arbitration, concessions around the Special Tribunal for the former KLA, and the announcement about a possible reorganization of UNMIK...
...Pristina media have interpreted the announcement on the reorganization of UNMIK as the greatest defeat for Kosovo in its attempt to legitimize itself as a state. According to this proposal, sources from the UN plan to strengthen the role of UNMIK and retrieve certain competencies from EULEX, to potentially form a directorate for rule of law and correctional service. This does not mean that the EU mission would be abolished, as it would continue to carry out advisory and mentoring activities, but these types of events in Pristina are interpreted as a weakening of the statehood of Kosovo and the establishment of a new legal order.
the establishment of the Special Tribunal for former members of the KLA and failure to transform Security Forces in the Armed Forces of Kosovo are also considered to be representative of the weakness of Kosovo. The initiative to gain membership for Kosovo in Interpol will, as things stand now, will have to wait for a better time.