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Spain Position Paper - Foreign Affairs Council

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Spain Position Paper - Foreign Affairs Council
Committee: Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union

Issue: Kosovo: its recognition, EU-future and relation to Serbia

Delegate of: The Kingdom of Spain

Delegate name: Di Lan Ngo

Country’s Position

Since Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008, the political status of Kosovo within the Republic of Serbia remains a highly contentious issue that has yet to be resolved. However, if the Balkans is to be integrated into the European Union in the near future and to become a stable and prosperous region in Europe, the Kingdom of Spain believes that this contentious issue must be resolved in a peaceful manner, resulting in an agreement that can be accepted by both concerned parties.

The foreign policy of our country has always been and will continue to be based on two main principles: the respect for international law and multilateral diplomacy. The Kingdom of Spain will therefore support the position of non-recognition concerning the political status of Kosovo as a sovereign state as this clearly violates the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia as it has been guaranteed in the UN Charter, as well as in the UN General Assembly's Resolution 2625 of October 1970, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and most importantly the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 passed in 1999 that put an end to the ethnic conflict in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Kingdom of Spain believes that it is an imperative that the international community upholds its general principles of conduct and applies them equally to all states as it has been stated in the UN Charter of 1945.

The Kingdom of Spain however, regards Kosovo as a sui generis case that is incomparable to any other secessionist movements and therefore it cannot and should not set a precedent for any future secessionist movements. However, we recognize that there is still the possibility that other movements still based their claims on

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