19 November 2008 Tirana — Albania’s Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha has rejected the six-point plan presented by the UN chief for the deployment of the EU’s law-and-order mission, EULEX, in Kosovo.
“Pristina has its aspirations to continue the implementation of the Ahtisaari Plan and Albania fully supports its stance against the six-point plan,” said Basha in an interview for ALSAT TV.
“Albania supports their decision to categorically reject the current United Nations plan for the deployment of EULEX,” he added.
The deployment of EULEX was envisaged under the blueprint for Kosovo’s independence devised by the former UN envoy for Kosovo’s final status, Martti Ahtisaari.
Basha also criticised the way the proposal had been negotiated between the UN, Belgrade and the European Union, while ignoring Kosovo’s leaders.
“Kosovo is a sovereign country and has legitimate power guaranteed by their sovereign constitution to accept or reject such decisions,” he said.
Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February and has been recognised by most European Union member states, objects to the plan being based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244. This resolution, passed at the end of the 1998-1999 conflict between Serb forces and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority, refers to Kosovo as Serbia’s southern province, not as an independent state.
Serbia insists that the EU cannot deploy a new civilian mission in Kosovo to replace the UN administration unless the mission is neutral in status and does not put into action the plan of former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari – which envisages internationally-supervised independence for Kosovo.
Belgrade also insists that the mission must be confirmed by the UN Security Council, in which it has a strong ally with veto power – Russia.
The proposal envisages the gradual replacement of the administrative UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, which has been in the province since 1999, with an EU civilian mission of police and court officials.
