Saturday, January 21, 2006

Micheline Calmy-Rey: Why Kosovo should be independent (Koha Ditore)

The paper carries an editorial of Swiss Federal Chancellor where she states the unresolved status of Kosovo represents a huge burden to the region and that the more this lasts the higher will be the risk of situation getting destabilized.

According to Calmy-Rey, around 10 percent of Kosovo’s population lives in Switzerland and ‘as long as status remains undefined, property and legal problems cannot be solved. As long as there is no legal authority or order, no one will want to invest in Kosovo.’

Further Calmy-Rey says that Kosovo, with its current status, cannot afford to borrow money, because it cannot offer guarantees that the money would be returned. People remain unemployed, half of Kosovo youth is so, she said.

She also said that Switzerland stated before the UNSC, that it upholds the idea of immediate status talks on Kosovo, and that putting Kosovo under the sovereignty of Serbia was unimaginable and unwanted.

Speaking on minorities, Calmy-Rey said that her country expects that the majority would respect the rights of Serbs and other communities and that standards should be constantly implemented without any timeframe. Swiss prefers the formula ‘Standards beyond status’ to ‘Standards before status’, ascertained Calmy-Rey.

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