The Government of Kosovo is right to resist the “Six-point plan,” which nullifies the Ahtisaari Plan and subverts Kosovo’s independence.

Signing the Six-Point Plan crafted between UN and Belgrade, as the EU is pressuring President Sejdiu and Prime Minister Thaci to do, is a bad idea. They should continue to resist the pressure.

The agreement would ratify the partition of Kosovo and legitimate the exercise of effective sovereignty over part of it by Belgrade. It would validate Serbia’s continued imposition of its historically racist policy on Kosovo without participation in decisionmaking by Kosovar leadership. It would reinforce Europe’s backing away from the Ahtisaari Plan.

The six-point plan is fundamentally inconsistent with Kosovo’s constitution and its status as an independent state. It is worse than Security Council Resolution 1244 in seeing to be “status neutral;” unlike Resolution 1244 it does not even recite formally that Kosovo is sovereign over the entire territory of  Kosovo.

There is no real disadvantage from refusing to agree. EULEX exists only to implement the Ahtisaari Plan. The six-point plan puts it in the position of subverting it. Refusing to agree would force the EU to mobilize the courage to deploy EULEX according to the plan already adopted by the EU. It would put UNMIK in its proper place, legally and politically: an intrusion in the sovereign affairs of an independent state without its approval. Without the plan, Kosovo is de-facto partitioned. It has been since 1999. But the six-point plan will strengthen and legalize partition and make it harder to undo. One way or another Belgrade and Moscow will continue their efforts to prevent independent Kosovo from becoming successful and to sabotage any international efforts leading in a constructive direction. They will continue to try to intimidate Kosovo Serbs from acting in their interests and seeking integration into Kosovo’s political life. The six-point plan simply legitimates these lawless efforts.  If the plan it not signed, the Government of Kosovo has more flexibility to work over time to bring Kosovo Serbs into the political and legal affairs of the new state.

The Kosovo Government has done everything required of it to implement the Ahtisaari Plan; that the plan is not fully implemented is entirely due to Serbia’s unwillingness to play by the rules governing states in the international system. Refusing to sign will leave this reality of Serbian policy for the world to see, including those who should be worried about Serbia’s likely behavior were it to become a member of the EU.

Serbia forfeited sovereignty over Kosovo during the ten-year period from 1989 to 1999, when it systematically stripped Kosovar Albanians of their political and economic rights based solely on their ethnicity, and when it turned its guns and tanks on Kosovo’s civilian Albanian population to expel it from its homeland. From 1999-2008, Serbia did not exercise the attributes of sovereignty over Kosovo, and this is one of the requirements for sovereignty under international law.

Regardless of the persuasiveness of these legal arguments, however, Kosovo achieved the status of a sovereign state in February with its declaration of independence followed by recognition by more than 50 states. Having so recently acquired independence, Kosovo’s government should not give it up so soon by being pressured into joining the six-point agreement. The agreement is a plan for Serbia to reassert its sovereignty over Kosovo.

The day may come when Kosovo agrees to a change of borders, but if it ever does so it should be the result of negotiations in which its Government actively participates and it should get something in return. Neither is true of the six-point plan.

That Kosovo is being to accept the plan is a sad commentary of Europe’s incapacity to stick with sound policy decisions. February was the high water mark of EU and UN fulfillment of their promises regarding Kosovo’s status—they’ve been backing away ever since.

Kosovo’s Government should not help this miscarriage of diplomacy along.

Stick to your position, Mr. Sejdiu and Mr. Thaçi.

 

Mr. Perritt is Professor of Law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. You can find more about his work in Kosovo at operationkosovo.kentlaw.edu .