(13/03/2006) STRAW ACCEPTS KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE AT SALZBURG. (Balkan Watch)

• 2006-03-14
• Europa in de wereld

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced he believes that an independent Kosovo is “almost inevitable.” Straw discussed Kosovo at a conference of EU foreign ministers in Salzburg, meeting to discuss the future of EU enlargement, particularly into the Balkans. Straw noted that it was perhaps inevitable that Kosovo would become independent, given the demands of the majority Kosovo Albanian population. He urged the Serbian population to accept the inevitable.

Meanwhile, at the same conference, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged newly-elected Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku to reach out to Serbs in the disputed province. Solana noted that Ceku’s new government takes office at a very crucial point in Kosovo’s history.