The independence of Kosovo

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17th February 2008, but to understand why and under what conditions this happened, we must go back to the late 1990s. There was conflict between the two main communities in Kosovo (Serbs and Albanians), they both believed that they were the original and legitimate occupants of the region.
The conflict escalated in 1999 and broke out into a real war between the two communities.

The casualties of this conflict has not been clearly defined, several agencies estimate that 10,000 Kosovars were killed by Serb forces. Aerial bombardments killed 500 to 1,500 civilians and over 650 members of the Yugoslav military. According to the, the Human Rights Watch Serb forces expelled 862,979 Albanians from Kosovo to Macedonia and Albania. Hundreds of thousands of more people were displaced from their own country. In all, over 80% of the entire population of Kosovo (or 90% of Kosovo Albanians) had been driven from their homes. The fighting, which lasted for more than 70 days led to a stalemate until the conclusion of an agreement between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Special Envoys of the European Union.

On June 10th, 1999 the Security Council adopted the UN 'resolution 1244' which placed the territory of Kosovo under UN administration. On the same day, peace agreements over Kumanovo were signed and the presence of a NATO force, KFOR was accepted. They were entrusted with the task of ensuring peace and order in the region that was formerly under the authority of Serbia. Kosovo is, to this day, is under the administration of the UN. So strikes ceased and Serbians began withdrawing its forces from Kosovo.

In this paper we study the consequences of declaration of independence of unilateral Kosovo for the EU and what it implies for the future of this new State.

On the subject of Kosovo’s declaration of independence the EU did not respond in a single, united voice, but each member state was ruled by its own interests.
From this observation, it is possible to draw a balance sheet of the progress of European integration, at least what is, on the establishment of a foreign policy of the European Union.

We can say, based on this event, that the European Union, despite significant efforts to coordinate public policy and development in various fields are unable to produce a real foreign policy . It is difficult for the members of the European Union to to agree on major international issues.