Holdout Serbs the key to Kosovo's success, says EU envoy

(PRISTINA) - The government of Kosovo has rushed to pass laws and a constitution, create ministries and set up security forces since it declared independence in February. But about 100,000 Serbs who refuse to consider it a nation cast a lingering shadow over the progress.

Pieter Feith, the EU special representative to Kosovo, says the Serbs who have kept their loyalties to Belgrade are his main concern as he launches into his job of helping the government of the territory with its ethnic Albanian majority.

"We have seen the government establish the legal framework for a future fully multi-ethnic society in Kosovo," Feith, an experience Dutch diplomat, told AFP in an interview, noting the new constitution and key laws.

But there is the Serb minority, the estimated 100,000 people who stayed in Kosovo after the end of 1998-1999 war.

"I think the main concern, the main challenge is to engage the Kosovo Serb community in the future of Kosovo and to make sure that there is a common understanding ... on the way forward," said Feith.

The ethnic Albanian majority proclaimed independence from Serbia on February 17. It has been recognised more than 50 countries, including the United States and most EU members.

Backed by Belgrade and its powerful ally Russia, the Serbs still consider Kosovo to be Serbia's southern province.

"I realize that the Kosovo Serb community is looking towards Belgrade for guidance," Feith said.

He called on the Belgrade government to "move on and cooperate with the EU" and the EULEX mission in Kosovo "in providing the right conditions for Kosovo and to assist and help in maintaining and enhancing stability in the region."

Feith estimated that with a pro-western president in Belgrade, Boris Tadic, "there is a certain freeing up" among the Kosovo Serbs.

"There is more oxygen in the Kosovo Serb community, there is more openness, willingness to look towards the future, readiness to talk to us, and hopefully in the future, also to the representatives of the central institutions."

The EU envoy praised the Belgrade government's efforts to "enhance its relations with Brussels" which had strengthened stability throughout the Balkans.

Feith said the Kosovo government had also moved "forward expeditiously along the plan of action" set by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president who was this week awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end fighting in places such as Kosovo.

"Now we are in the next phase which has to see the government move onto the implementation of these laws," Feith said.

Feith, whose mandate includes advising Kosovo authorities, said "the government has responsibilities in taking forward the well-being of people in Kosovo and to stimulate growth in the economy... privatization... and attracting direct foreign investments."

"So this is now up to the government. I am here to advise, I am a reluctant supervisor but an eager advisor," Feith said.

Kosovo was administered by a UN mission from mid-1999 until the proclamation of independence, when the Pristina government took over most day-to-day duties.

Feith, who has had wide experience in the Balkans, called the Kosovo issue as the "final stage of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia."

"We hope that we will see all parts of the Western Balkans move up together forward and therefore this may have a happy conclusion," he said, expressing confidence that "various parts of the former Yugoslavia will all be at various stages of reaching the EU candidate status."