Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

The difficult and sensitive issue of Kosovo's future status is the legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The framework for post-conflict Kosovo was set out in UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which established an interim United Nations civilian administration and authorised an international security presence, Kosovo Force, KFOR. The resolution also provided for a gradual transfer of competence from the United Nations civilian administration mission to provisional institutions of self-government.

In November 2005 the former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, was appointed as the UN Secretary General's special envoy to lead the political process to determine the future status of Kosovo in a final settlement. Following more than one year of consultations and direct talks with the parties, Mr. Ahtisaari submitted his comprehensive proposal to the Secretary General in March this year. He recommended that Kosovo's status should be independent and supervised by the international community. The proposal includes detailed provisions concerning the promotion and protection of the rights of communities and their members. A key element of the proposed settlement would be a continuing international civilian and military presence in Kosovo, with the KFOR military force remaining and a new civilian European Security and Defence Policy, ESDP, mission created.

Ireland welcomed this proposal but, regrettably, intensive efforts within the UN Security Council to agree on a new resolution on the basis of the Ahtisaari proposals ended in failure. On 1 August the Secretary General announced that an international troika would facilitate a further four months of direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina. No agreement has yet been found and the Troika is due to report to the UN Secretary General on the outcome of these talks on 10 December.

During his recent visit to the Balkans the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, met leaders in Belgrade and Pristina. He expressed Ireland's strong support for the troika process and urged both parties to take a constructive approach to try to find an agreed solution.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

It was clear from these discussions that the positions of the two sides remained diametrically opposed. We hope the talks may yet produce a positive outcome, but if they do not, we recognise that difficult choices will need to be made which deal with the reality of the situation on the ground.

With our partners in the European Union and the international community, Ireland is ready to play its full part in the efforts to resolve this important European issue. Since August we have increased our commitment to KFOR to 270 troops, following our assumption of command of task force centre which covers the capital Pristina and the surrounding area. While we will face a more complex and uncertain political and legal environment in the event that there is no agreement on final status, we very much hope to be in a position to maintain our presence in KFOR, to consider contributing members of the Garda to an ESDP mission and to support the future economic development of Kosovo.

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