Hostility between Serbs and ethnic Albanians could result in Kosovo's de facto partition after the province's expected declaration of independence from Serbia next year, the European Union's incoming presidency said yesterday.
"It is a risk - it is very serious," Dimitrij Rupel, the foreign minister of Slovenia, which will take the EU's six-month rotating presidency on January 1, told the Financial Times in an interview.
"Kosovo may well be the greatest challenge of the Slovenian presidency."
Most of the EU's 27 member states, as well as the US, are preparing to recognise Kosovo as an independent state,despite profound objections from Serbia, which has Russian support.
Although western countries are unwilling to countenance changes to the province's borders, they recognise that Belgrade wields great influence over Serb-populated areas of northern Kosovo above the Ibar river.
Serbian officials have vowed to extend a network of parallel state institutions for the Serb minority in these areas if Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership declares independence in early 2008.
Asked if tensions could spark Serb-Albanian violence, Mr Rupel said: "I don't see violence from the Kosovar [Albanian] side because they have too much to lose. Of course, there could be some outbreaks; some sporadic events. I'm also afraid of provocations from both sides. But I don't see any major violence now."
About 16,000 Nato troops are based in Kosovo, helping to deter trouble, and EU leaders agreed last week to send about 1,800 police, prosecutors, judges and other civilian officials to the province next year.
Asked how long the international community would need to prop up Kosovo, a poor province grappling with high unemployment, corruption and organised crime, Mr Rupel said: "A long time."
But he said there were grounds for hope that -Kosovo's leadership - once entrusted with the responsibilities of running an independent state - would rise to the challenge.
"Sometimes, responsibilities produce good results. If you are responsible for keeping your own house in order, you will probably put your house in order. If you become an owner, you start becoming serious," he said.
Slovenia, a former Yugoslavian republic that won its independence in 1991 in the teeth of Serbian opposition, sympathised with Kosovo's aspirations to follow the same path, said Mr Rupel. Slovenia has subsequently prospered and joined Nato, the EU and the eurozone.
"For Slovenia, it's extremely difficult to deny the same right to Kosovo that we applied to ourselves," he said.
However, he pointed out that Slovenia hoped to use its EU presidency to help Serbia, as well as other Balkan countries, move closer to their long-term goal of EU membership.
