By Country / Serbia
EU Warns Kosovo Against Declaring Independence
June 22, 2007
June 22, 2007 -- A European Union envoy has warned Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian leaders against making an "irresponsible" declaration of independence.
The EU's envoy to Kosovo, Stefan Lehne, delivered the warning June 21, shortly after Russia rejected a revised UN Security Council resolution that would delay independence for Kosovo to give the province's ethnic-Albanian majority and Serbs more time to negotiate the future status of the Serbian territory.
Lehne, on a visit to Kosovo's capital, Pristina, said it "would be a huge step backwards" and could erase international goodwill toward Kosovo if ethnic-Albanian leaders were to take the independence issue into their own hands.
(Reuters)