Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-04-Speech-3-229"
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"en.20090204.15.3-229"2
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"Madam President, as shadow rapporteur for the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, I would like to congratulate Mr Lagendijk on his excellent text. We support the reform programme in Serbia and we respect, of course, the tiny minority of EU Member States which have not recognised Kosovo under international law.
However, we want to discourage people from believing that this development can be reversed. Three-quarters of the Members of this House voted in favour of recognising Kosovo. The Commission has also declared itself in favour, together with 23 out of 27 Member States, all the G7 countries, four of the six former Yugoslavian republics and three of Kosovo's four neighbouring countries.
This demonstrates that this development is irreversible. This is why it is important to look to the future, which involves a number of risks. The first major risk is the division of Kosovo. Until now the former Yugoslavia has been divided along the borders of the old republics or along the old internal borders of the autonomous regions. If the map is to be redrawn, for example in Mitrovica, the result would be that, for example, the Albanians in the Preševo valley in Serbia, the people in Sandžak of Novi Pazar and others would begin to question where the borders should lie. This would give rise to a highly dangerous situation.
For this reason, it makes sense to follow the Ahtisaari plan, which respects the old internal borders of Yugoslavia while providing mutual and extensive protection for minorities. The protection for minorities offered by the former Ahtisaari plan, which now forms part of the Kosovan constitution, is the most comprehensive programme of protection in the world. The Serbs in Kosovo should take this opportunity and make use of this minority protection.
Mr President-in-Office of the Council, you know that I myself come from a minority which was once abused to suit the purposes of others. The Serbs in Kosovo must ensure that they avoid this type of situation. The other danger which threatens Kosovo is that of chaos and corruption. In this case I can only say that we must make EULEX stronger, because UNMIK was not the solution, but, in fact, part of the problem."@en1
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