WORKING MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA THOMAS KLESTIL
Statement by the President of the Republic of Slovenia Milan Kucan

Vienna (Austria), 26 April 1999


Ladies and Gentlemen, the circumstances in which we live are such that they require our joint deliberation on what is happening to us so that together we may share the responsibility for the urgent and necessary measures required to ensure security and peace in Europe.

I am very pleased that another working meeting with President Klestil is taking place. The views I have heard in these discussions have always been very useful and valuable to me. This is true of today’s meeting as well. The circumstances that prevail in Europe now—due to integration processes on one hand and to the war in southeastern Europe on the other—fully emphasize the importance of the decision to hold annual meetings of the presidents of the Central European countries. They are an opportunity to discuss subjects specific to this region and that provide stability and cooperation characteristics of this region in the heart of Europe. These eight states represent a factor, a subregion that has always played a very important role in the European past, unfortunately not always a positive one.

As President Klestil has already stated, this year’s presidential meeting can not avoid the subject of Kosovo and the Kosovo disaster. It must deal primarily with the aspect of mitigating the humanitarian catastrophe and with the phenomenon of human rights that since World War II have been flagrantly and most brutally violated precisely in Kosovo. We agree with President Klestil that it is a good idea to separate the subject of Kosovo into two parts. The first is the search for a solution to the immediate acute crisis. The second is the search for long-term solutions for stability, cooperation, peace, and security in the Balkans, an area that—as our generations have sadly experienced—has continuously destabilized and threatened peace in Europe.

You know that there have been many initiatives to resolve the crisis. An early agreement on them would be most welcome so that they could bring about the desired result and that they would not, as often happens, block each other. I am struck by the high level of solidarity of European people who wish to help the refugees. Austria has made an exceptional contribution with its Help Your Neighbor campaign, and I too applaud the citizens of Austria for this. However, it seems to me that even more important is the decision that all of us must adopt regarding the political future of the Balkans so that crises stop reoccurring continuously. In my opinion, this issue is so important that all European countries must take responsibility for it. It will be necessary to convene a special conference of all countries on this issue in the near future. This conference would explore the reasons behind the continuous conflicts in the region as well as long-term solutions that must provide a means for resolving the national issues of these nations in a manner acceptable for Europe. Such issues have so far been resolved according to the principle of “blood and territory” with classic nation states in conflict with other nation states.

The idea of a cordon sanitaire around this region and the encouragement of political, economic, and cultural cooperation solely among the countries of this region seems to me a useful but still far from adequate measure for achieving goals such as peace, cooperation, and the inclusion of the Balkans in European integration processes.

Answers of President Kucan to questions from journalists:

• A political resolution to the crisis in Kosovo must be found. It will have to be reached in agreement with the Serbs, with or without Milosevic. The only question is the cost that will have to be paid by the Serbian nation, not by Milosevic. This cost is already very high. Of the “Greater Serbia” that was to reach practically the borders of Slovenia, barely that part remains that existed as Serbia proper in the former Yugoslavia. It should not be forgotten that the Serb tradition is also a very democratic one. I see the future of a democratic Serbia in a democratic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and within a democratic Serbia I also see a democratic Kosovo with a high degree of autonomy and the coexistence of Serbs and Albanians, the indigenous peoples of this region. In my opinion, anything else would have catastrophic long-term consequences, not only for the Balkans but for Europe as well.

• Slovenia is practically at the same distance from Kosovo as Austria. By this I mean that Slovenia is as threatened as the rest of Europe.

• I do not know whether the military strategists of NATO have been considering the deployment of ground forces or not. In any event, whatever the security arrangement is arrived at, it will necessarily require military supervision.

• If President Milosevic were a man of democratic and civilized principles, having done what he has to his nation he would have resigned down long ago. The difficulty for all of us is that we must deal with a person who does not recognize democratic values and who obviously only understands the harsh language of force.