Separatist fears stoke opposition to Kosovo move

By Jon Boyle

LONDON (Reuters) - The fear of many states around the world that the precedent of Kosovo's independence could fuel separatist demands within their own borders is driving their opposition to its breakaway from Serbia.

The list of countries refusing to recognize Kosovo's sovereignty reads like a global A-Z of separatist strife. Spain, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Sri Lanka and China all oppose Sunday's unilateral move by Kosovo to declare independence.

An even longer list of states in Europe and the Balkans are decidedly underwhelmed about acting as midwife to a new state in a region with a history of instability and conflict since the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

"All these countries are extremely worried about the precedent that this creates inside their own country," said Jonathan Eyal, director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

"I'm in Romania at the moment, and the ethnic Hungarians who are part of the (governing) coalition, are now demanding, on the basis of the Kosovo precedent, that Romanians will give autonomy to their minorities as well," he said.

"This could collapse the government here, so this has very serious implications."

Spain, beset by separatist concerns in its Basque and Catalonia regions, said it would not recognize a move by Kosovo that "does not respect international law".

Fellow EU members Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have indicated they will not follow Britain, France and United States in recognizing Kosovo.

EU PARALYSIS?

Dana Allin, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said that was part of a "constructive abstention" approach tacitly agreed within the EU.

The bloc agreed on Saturday to send 2,000 police, justice and civil administrators to supervise Kosovo and help build up its institutions.

"If these guys had really wanted to they could have stopped it, I suppose -- at a catastrophic cost in terms of EU coherence and unity," he said.

Erhard Busek, the EU special coordinator for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, suggested some were using the issue for domestic political purposes.

"The Kosovo question is being played up as a global political issue, which it isn't," he told Austrian state broadcaster ORF. "To put it bluntly: if you don't recognize Kosovo, does that solve the Basque problem in Spain? No!"

RUSI's Eyal said many EU states were worried about recognizing a declaration of independence that had not been agreed by the former state authorities or approved by the United Nations.