Servische minister in Europees Parlement: Servië teleurgesteld in EU (en)
EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic has spoken to the European Parliament i about the disappointment Serbs feel about the EU member states that have recognized independent Kosovo, claiming he is "ashamed" as a European.
"I am ashamed, because if recognizing this act of ethnically-motivated secession from a democratic, European state is not wrong, then nothing is wrong," Mr Jeremic told members of the parliamentary foreign committee on Wednesday (21 February).
In an emotional address to MEPs just three days after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, the country's foreign chief argued that Serbs "will not go quietly. We shall strive for what is just and rightfully ours."
The debate following his speech reflected division among EU member states on the issue - while some Spanish, Greek and Slovak MEPs expressed their support for Belgrade and its concerns, several other western deputies urged him to be more rational and pragmatic.
Dutch Green MEP Joost Lagendijk i told the minister he should be rather ashamed for the crimes some Serbs committed during the war in the Balkans, and also urged him to prevent sparking violence by Serbs in northern Kosovo, as the only local area with clashes.
Speaking later in a plenary debate on the same issue, Mr Lagendijk said that Kosovo's independence was "the unavoidable, inescapable consequence of what happened in 1999 when tens of thousand of Kosovars were murdered in UN presence."
Just as in previous discussions, the main contradiction expressed by speakers surrounded the issue of whether the independent Kosovo can constitute a precedent for future ethnic separatist movements - outside or even within the EU borders.
"The case of Kosovo is truly unique, because the international community had to step in to protect it on humanitarian grounds, and it became a protectorate for nine years," argued Dimitrij Rupel, the foreign minister of Slovenia, the current EU presidency country.
But his Serbian counterpart, Mr Jeremic, laughed off this assertion, saying: "Do any of you honestly think that just by saying that Kosovo is sui generis, you will make it so? That there will be no consequences to the stability and security of the international system, just because you say it won't?"
Mr Jeremic also confirmed that Serbia would break off diplomatic relations with all EU countries that have already recognised Kosovo or will do so. "And we shall undertake all diplomatic, political, measures designed to impede and reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on our sovereignty."
The bloc's four biggest countries - Germany, France, the UK and Italy - have launched official contacts with Kosovar authorities, along with 14 member states that have done so or signalled they are planning to.
Cyprus, Spain and Romania insist they will not recognize Kosovo.