Eurasia Press & News
European Union nations are overcoming their internal divisions over the future of Kosovo as it heads towards independence and will help shape its future, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.Speaking after the failure of international efforts to reach a compromise between Pristina and Belgrade, Solana said the EU would pursue its plan to take over police duties in Kosovo from the United Nations.
“I think our responsibilities will be met,” Solana told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers after a December 10 date set by Western powers as a deadline for mediation efforts was reached.
“I think that positions in the EU are coming to fruition,” he said of efforts in the bloc to convince a handful of doubters within the 27-member EU to back an independence declaration expected within weeks by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders.
Solana said the EU would negotiate with the United Nations the transition from U.N. police personnel to the EU’s planned 1,600-strong mission, stressing that the U.N. operation would stay on the ground until the EU was ready to take over.
