Bad Ahtisaari

Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi of the Albanian American Civic League doesn't like the Ahtisaari Plan.

In a country that is 92 percent Albanian with 8 percent minorities, including 5 to 6 percent Serbs, the Ahtisaari plan allows for a kind of “double affirmative action plan” for Kosova Serbs that has no counterparts in the rest of the world. Out of 120 seats in parliament, twenty will be reserved for minorities, ten of which are for Serbs, on top of any seats gained through elections. Most important, any amendment to the constitution will require the approval of two-thirds of the minority members. This means that the Ahtisaari plan effectively allows the minority members, specifically the Serbs, to control the laws and political future of the majority. Since nothing in the constitution can be changed without the vote of two-thirds of the minorities, nothing will ever change—including recognizing Kosova as a sovereign state, even if other countries do on a bilateral basis.How can a proposal that weakens the capacity of Kosova’s central government to govern its territory and facilitates all sorts of special legal and extra-legal arrangements between Belgrade and Serb municipalities lead to peace and stability in Kosova and in Southeast Europe? How can such a plan ensure that Mitrovica and the rest of the north will remain an integral part of Kosova, when Kosova has no real sovereignty to begin with? The Ahtisaari plan also provides for a prolonged international presence in the form of an international military presence of indeterminate duration and an “International Civilian Office,” whose representative will take over authority from the UN and have sweeping powers over every aspect of life in Kosova. The international representative will have the power to “sanction and remove any public official” and to annul any decisions or legislation that violate “the letter or spirit of the settlement.” Under these terms, how can the Ahtisaari plan purport to lead to a sustainable settlement and a “democratic” Kosova?Failure on the part of Albanian negotiators in Vienna to challenge the most egregious provisions of the plan will result in a final draft that favors Serbia even more and that traps Kosova in a permanent, Bosnia-style aid-dependent state to the detriment of Kosova, the region, and the rest of Europe.

THE AHTISAARI PLAN: CAVEAT EMPTOR | Albanian American Civic League

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