interviews

TRANSCRIPT AMBASSADOR TINA KAIDANOW INTERVIEW WITH RTK-NEWS November 11, 2008

AMBASSADOR KAIDANOW: Thank you for this opportunity to talk to you. I think it is really important that I do give you some sense of what is going on, and also tell you very, very clearly that the United States, together with its friends in the European Union, has been working very, very hard over the last few weeks, not just a few days, but weeks, to do the one thing that we really believe is absolutely critical for the future of Kosovo, and that is to ensure the successful deployment of EULEX throughout all of Kosovo.
This is, without question, the most important thing for the future of Kosovo. This is the most important thing to ensure the territorial integrity of Kosovo. There is no question: the future of Kosovo is in the EU, the future of Kosovo is with EULEX. I think that is really critical for everyone to bear in mind.

I think it is also pretty clear, or should be pretty clear to people, that you cannot deploy a police and justice mission throughout all of Kosovo, if you don’t have the acceptance of the various communities that this mission is supposed to function in. It is critical that everyone give EULEX some level of acceptance. You cannot insert a police and justice mission by force. That much should be very clear to everyone here in Kosovo. For that reason, there has been a lot of discussion about this so-called “Six-Point process.” The whole purpose of this Six Point process, which again, the United States, the EU, and others have been supportive of, is to give the Serb community in Kosovo the sense that EULEX deployment will not harm or damage its interests in any particular way. I think that is important. I think we have tried very hard to have a formulation that will do exactly what I have said. Last night, clearly, the President and the Prime Minister, with whom we have worked very constructively over the last few weeks -- and I am sure that we will continue to work very constructively with them, with the Government of Kosovo; nevertheless, they said that several elements of the Six Point plan were not fully satisfactory for them. We respect that, and we will work hard to find ways in which we can reassure them and the people of Kosovo on those elements.”

RTK: Ambassador, what does the Six Point plan contain and does it harm Kosovo’s sovereignty?

AMBASSADOR KAIDANOW: I think that if you look closely at the provisions of the Six Point Plan, which, I understand, have been published here, although maybe not in the final version, there are many versions of this document, so I can’t be sure what version was published. But I think if you look at that document, you’ll see what it contains; there are certain things, again, that will make the Serb community here feel more comfortable. It talks about, for example, a senior Serb officer being appointed within the Kosovo police structure, within the existing chain of command, but making sure that there is somebody in an appropriately high level within the police chain of command. It talks about the re-insertion of international customs officers at the two gates where we don’t currently have customs operations. These are things that we see as beneficial to Kosovo, actually. In all of them, they are clearly specified in that document as interim measures, so there is nothing there to say that they will last forever, but we see them as useful ways forward, again, to reassure the local Serb population and, to do some useful things for Kosovo, as well. So, I have to tell you that, I mean, my judgment of them differs slightly from some of the judgments I have seen locally. I would hate to see this process politicized in any way, particularly by members of the opposition, by those who feel somehow that this is a good way to attack the government. I don’t think that that is necessary.

I think the point here now is to find the right way forward for all the people of Kosovo. I think the Government, the President, the Prime Minister are intent on doing that. We are very supportive of that effort, and the United States, the EU, all of the players who have been involved in this, really, again, have only one intention and that is to make sure that the EULEX deploys; that it deploys throughout Kosovo; that it does so successfully, with the full support of all the communities of Kosovo; that everything that happens is to the benefit of Kosovo, and, in the end, puts Kosovo squarely on track for the EU. I think anyone who says that Kosovo doesn’t need the EU, doesn’t have an EU future, really is being very foolish.

RTK: Do you expect that an agreement can be reached by the end of the week? And will Kosovo’s request be accepted to be involved as part of this agreement?

AMBASSADOR KAIDANOW: Absolutely and for sure the Kosovo Government will be an active part in all these consultations and discussions, I mean that is what we all have been doing and, quite frankly, I am 100% sure that that will continue, as I said. I think the key here is that we don’t set artificial timelines, deadlines, any of this, but we work as quickly as possible to make sure that in fact EULEX can deploy. EULEX has a timeframe; it already has people on the ground, let’s remember that Americans will be part of the EULEX Mission. We’ll have judges, we’ll have police, we’ll have prosecutors. It is really important to us that EULEX successfully deploys. That it deploys quickly, that it deploys successfully in all parts of Kosovo. We need some acceptance from the Serb community. We need acceptance, obviously, from other communities in Kosovo as well -- all of them. This is something that is incredibly important for Kosovo. No one should forget the “big picture” issue. This is the big picture issue. And, again, to dwell on certain parts of it, or to talk about why this is not beneficial for Kosovo, I think is less helpful.

RTK: Ambassador, is there any mechanism that will make Serbs, at some point, obey the Kosovo laws? For the moment, by this plan, they can act under UN regulations here in Kosovo.

AMBASSADOR KAIDANOW: I think [this is] what is important to remember -- and of course the EU needs to speak to its own issues, obviously. But the EU Spokesperson was very clear this past week that EULEX will come to Kosovo and respect its institutional and legislative framework; that it will work closely with the institutions of Kosovo, in order to bring them up to European standards. And these are things that, obviously, if EULEX is able to successfully deploy throughout Kosovo, that means that there is a unity of the legal system in Kosovo, that’s important. And I think, again, the point here really is that if we get EULEX successfully deployed throughout Kosovo, if we succeed in the one major objective that we have, then we can all feel comfortable that the territorial integrity of Kosovo has been preserved. That’s the point! So, again, I hope that everyone will be wise in the way that they think about this, and understand that the future of Kosovo really is at stake here, and that is why we have to take a much broader view of this whole process, rather than focus on very small particulars.

RTK: Keeping in mind that the Kosovo institutions have already rejected this plan, do you think they have made a mistake and have put themselves at risk in their partnerships with the European states and also with the U.S.?

AMBASSADOR KAIDANOW: No, no. Quite the contrary. First of all, again, I said before and I mean it, the President, the Prime Minister worked extremely constructively with all of us: with the United States, its EU friends, and I am absolutely confident that that will continue. But what [the President and Prime Minister] said yesterday was that they thought that certain elements of the plan were not satisfactory for them. We respect that, and we hope that we will find additional assurances that will make them feel better about the elements of that plan. I think they understand very, very well, as I just said, that the real element here that really matters is the deployment of EULEX throughout Kosovo. We need to find that way forward. I’m confident we’ll find that way forward, and I’m also 100% confident that the institutions of Kosovo will work with us very productively in that effort.

RTK: Thank you, Ambassador.

AMBASSADOR KAIDANOW: Thank you very much.