Slovak FM on unilateral secessions

Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Mikulaš Dzurinda said that his country is against recognizing Kosovo. He also stressed that the “unilateral secessions is not in the interest of Europe”.

“If Serbs now feel cheated, I can understand that,” Dzurinda told Austrian daily Die Presse, recalling that UN SC Resolution 1244, that ended the 1999 war over the province, envisages only a substantial autonomy for Kosovo.

Commenting on a statement that Slovakia supported NATO’s 1999 attack on Serbia, the Slovak minister said that he “strongly supported offering Slovakia’s air space to NATO because he was convinced at the time that Slobodan Milošević’s ethnic cleansing was a very bad thing”.

Durinda said that he was still convinced that the decision was right.

“But with the same devotion to the values and principles I now believe that the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo without Serbia’s consent or consideration is unfair,” said Dzurinda, whose country is one of five EU member-states that have not recognized the Kosovo Albanian UDI.