Talks between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians have reached a dead end, as neither group is willing to alter its original position. This means that the topic of Kosovo will return to Slovak politics a month after it left it. Let us hope it is in a different form.
The competition between Slovak political parties to see who could be more loudly against the proposal to give Kosovo limited autonomy without Serbian agreement had a hysterical undertone. Slovak politicians were unable to judge the matter on its merits, but only according to their own interests. They treated the Kosovo question as if they were deciding on autonomy for ethnic Hungarians in southern Slovakia. They were too arrogant and selfish to understand that it wasn't about them, but about whether people will continue to die in the Balkans.
Most EU and NATO states understand that there is no good solution for Kosovo, only bad and worse, and that leaving Kosovo's status up in the air until an uncontrollable 'solution' comes along is worse than giving it limited autonomy now despite opposition from Serbia. The Ahtisaari plan goes to the UN Security Council before the end of March, with a vote to be held in June. Slovak politicians have until then to see if they can stop thinking about Kosovo 'in Slovak.'
Sme, March 12
