Brown: There was no agreement - Kosovo should become independent

British Prime Minister, on the independence of Kosovo (KOHA Daily, December 13, 2007)

"I think the message is being given clearly and loudly to both Serbia and Russia that this is the path we will follow and I hope that all parties will support this," the British Prime Minister stressed.

London, 12 December 2007 - A day before the EU heads of state and government meet in Brussels, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, has warned in London that the EU will take responsibility for Kosovo and expects the EU Council to say clearly at the summit where Kosovo should go. Brown, underlining that no agreement has been reached between the parties on the status agreement, has asserted that Kosovo should now have supervised independence.

"We believe that Kosovo should move towards supervised independence. It was not possible to reach an agreement between the Kosovars and the Serbs," said Prime Minister Brown, speaking in the UK Parliament. "We believe that the European Union should offer its capacities to complement what the international community currently has in Kosovo and we hope that we can move towards what we call supervised independence. In other words, to fulfil the rights of the Kosovars, provided that there is no violence," said the British Prime Minister, adding that this issue will be discussed by the EU over the weekend.

He stressed that Kosovo is the responsibility of the European Union. "This is, if you like, the last area of ​​the Balkans where we need to put into practice the mechanisms that would ensure peace and stability in the future. I personally believe that the Serbs are interested in working with the European Union and we need to convince them to do so, but I think the most important issue is that we support the supervised independence of the people of Kosovo," he added, warning that this will be clearly stated at the EU summit tomorrow in Brussels.

"I think the message is being given clearly and loudly to both Serbia and Russia that this is the path we will follow and I hope that all parties will support this," he said.

The British Prime Minister also responded to a question from Conservative opposition leader David Cameron, who has called for the UK to send more troops to Kosovo now on the verge of independence to prevent a possible escalation of violence. Brown said it was too early to take such a step.

"I hope that the steps we are taking on this will have support from all parties," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

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Great Britain has been at the forefront of Western countries that have been committed to Kosovo's independence for several years now. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was previously very committed to this. But even after his departure, Gordon Brown and his ministers have continued to follow the same path regarding Kosovo in support of Kosovo's independence as proposed by Martti Ahtisaari.

The British opposition also supports Kosovo's independence. Opposition leader David Cameron, during a visit to the United States of America, strongly supported Kosovo's independence, saying that Russia cannot prevent the solution of such an important problem in Europe as Kosovo.  

On the eve of the 18th anniversary of Kosovo's statehood, KOHA brings back the main reports of correspondent Augustin Palokaj from Brussels in the last three months leading up to the declaration of independence in 2008. Read these contents in one place: