How to react to the birth pangs of Kosovo is the central debate of this week's full sitting of the European Parliament. Kosovo claiming statehood follows in the footsteps of others that reshaped the former Yugoslavia. Some argue this was the right time for a new status quo.
Those who support this view include the dominant conservative grouping in the parliament. Christian Democrat Bernd Posselt wrote the EPP's report in the matter: "We can not stop history till everybody is convinced. We have big majorities, and this big majority has decided, and now we have to do what we can to protect minorities."
Recognising a new country moves around the geo-political goalpoasts. Peacekeeping forceps in the form of NATO troops may ease the delivery process. But a Turkish troop presence that is internationally condemned makes the case of Cyprus - which is not recognising Kosovo - clearly different, said Cypriot MEP Adamos Adamou: "This movement that recognises a part of Serbia to be independent as Kosovo is going to open the Pandora Box for a lot of other cases. Of course, the Cyprus problem is not similar to Kosovo as we have an invasion by an army of a country which is a candidate for accession to the European Union, and still occupies nearly 40% of the island."
Many of those who support recognising Kosovo say Serbia lost the moral authority to the region because of atrocities and ethnic cleansing.
French Socialist MEP and a former prime minister Michel Rocard is firmly in this camp. He said: "You have to hope that Belgrade understands that they made themselves unbearable the way they dominated Kosovo. The Serbs got themselves thrown out. That's somewhat their own fault. Someone should explain that to them."
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