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Germany: From Cautious Recogniser to Kosovo’s Key EU Ally

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The Politics of Recognition and Engagement

Part of the book series: New Perspectives on South-East Europe ((NPSE))

Abstract

Germany has become a key European Union member state supporting Kosovo’s statehood and European Union accession process. However, prior to 2008, Germany was careful about supporting a unilateral declaration of independence. This was due to the backlash over its controversial recognition policy in the Balkans in the 1990s and due to its relationship to Serbia and Russia. This chapter traces Germany’s journey to its new role on Kosovo’s status and explains how its support for the new state is deeply embedded in the idea of European integration.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Holm Sundhaussen, Jugoslawien und seine Nachfolgestaaten 1943–2011 (Köln: Böhlau, 2014), p. 135.

  2. 2.

    Wolfgang Schmidt, ‘Willy Brandts Ost-und Deutschlandpolitik’, in Bernd Rother ed. Willy Brandts Außenpolitik (Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2014).

  3. 3.

    Josip Glaurdic, The Hour of Europe. Western Powers and the Break-Up of Yugoslavia (New Haven: Yale University Press 2011). Beverly Crawford, Power and German Foreign Policy—Embedded Hegemony in Europe (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan 2007).

  4. 4.

    Außenpolitik und Imperialismus, Bundeszantrale für politische Bildung, 27, September 2012.

  5. 5.

    Weller, M., Contested Statehood: Kosovo’s Struggle for Independence (Oxford University Press 2009).

  6. 6.

    Friederike Baer, Zwischen Anlehnung und Abgrenzung: die Jugoslawienpolitik der DDR 1946 bis 1968 (Köln: Böhlau, 2009), pp. 77–79.

  7. 7.

    Yugoslavia was the first of two cases in which this doctrine was implemented, the other being Cuba in 1963.

  8. 8.

    Holm Sundhaussen, Jugoslawien und seine Nachfolgestaaten 1943–2011 (Köln: Böhlau, 2014), p. 135.

  9. 9.

    W. Gumpel, ‘Die Wirtschaftbeziehugnen zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Jugoslawien und ihre Entwicklungschancen’, Südosteuropa, 1/1985, p. 238.

  10. 10.

    Franziska Krämer, Die Politik Deutschlands in der Kosovofragen (Potsdam Universitätsverlag, 2009), p. 76.

  11. 11.

    See Alain Pellet, ‘The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee: A Second Breath for the Self-Determination of Peoples’, European Journal of International Law, 3 (1), 1992, pp. 178–185.

  12. 12.

    Richard Caplan, Europe and the Recognition of New States in Yugoslavia (Cambridge: University Press 2005), p. 38–39.

  13. 13.

    Marc Weller, Contested Statehood: Kosovo’s Struggle for Independence (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 30 and p. 40.

  14. 14.

    Hans W. Maull, and Bernhard Stahl ‘Durch den Balkan nach Europa? Deutschland und Frankreich in den Jugoslawienkriegen’ Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 43. Jg. 2002 Heft 1, pp. 82–111; Stefanie Augter, ‘Negotiating Croatia’s recognition: German foreign policy as a two-level game’, PhD in International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2002; Beverly Crawford, Explaining Defection from International Cooperation: Germany’s Unilateral Recognition, World Politics 48(4), 1996, pp. 482–521; Josip Glaurdic, The Hour of Europe.

  15. 15.

    MdB Peter Götz (SPD) cited in Roland Friedrich, Die deutsche Außenpolitik im Kosovo-Konflikt (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2005) p. 27.

  16. 16.

    Roland Friedrich, Die deutsche Außenpolitik im Kosovo-Konflikt, p. 28 and comments to the author, interview with a foreign policy expert in the Green Party, Berlin, March 2014.

  17. 17.

    Joachim Krause, ‘Deutschland und die Kosovo-Krise’, in Jens Reuter and Konrad Clewing (editors) Der Kosovo-Konflikt Ursachen, Verlauf, Perspektiven (Klagenfurt: Wieser Verlag 2000), p. 396.

  18. 18.

    Hanns W. Maull, ‘Germany and Japan: The New Civilian Powers’, Foreign Affairs, 69, 1990.

  19. 19.

    Felix Berenskoetter and Bastian Giegerich, ‘From NATO to ESDP: A Social Constructivist Analysis of German Strategic Adjustment after the End of the Cold War’, Security Studies, 19(3), 2010, pp. 407–452.

  20. 20.

    Sebastian Harnisch ‘Change and Continuity in Post-Unification German Foreign Policy’, German Politics, 10(1), 2001, 35–60, p. 52–53; Alister Miskimmon, ‘Falling into line? Kosovo and the course of German foreign policy’, International Affairs, 85(3), 2009, p. 561–573; Felix Berenskoetter and Bastian Giegerich, ‘From NATO to ESDP: A Social Constructivist Analysis of German Strategic Adjustment after the End of the Cold War’, Security Studies, 19(3), 2010, pp. 407–452.

  21. 21.

    Roland Friedrich, Die deutsche Außenpolitik im Kosovo-Konflikt, p. 101.

  22. 22.

    United Nations, UN Security Council, ‘On the situation relating to Kosovo’ Resolution 1244 (1999) S/Res/1244, 10 June 1999, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N99/172/89/PDF/N9917289.pdf?OpenElement (Last accessed 25 September 2016).

  23. 23.

    Friedrich, Die deutsche Außenpolitik im Kosovo-Konflikt, p. 101. Joseph Fischer (Greens) Minister of Foreign Affairs in Deutscher Bundestag (1999a) Plenarprotokoll 14/44 16 June 1999. Stenographischer Bericht. 44. Sitzung 14 Wahlperiode. Bonn 16 June 1999, p. 3606.

  24. 24.

    NATO, ‘KFOR Facts and Figures’, February 2018.

  25. 25.

    United Nations, ‘Former UNMIK SRSGs’, on UNMIKonline.org.

  26. 26.

    Lykke Friis and Anna Murphy “Turbo-charged negotiations’: the EU and the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe’, Journal of European Public Policy, 7(5), 2000, pp. 767–786.

  27. 27.

    Alexandros Yannis, ‘The international presence in Kosovo and regional security: The deep winter of UN security council resolution 1244’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 2(1), 2002, pp. 173–190, p. 176; Wim van Meurs, ‘Kosovo’s Fifth Anniversary: On the Road to Nowhere?’, Ethnopolitics, 3(3), 2004, pp. 60–74; Marc Weller, Contested Statehood, p. 185. Christian Democrats, in opposition at the time, argued in the Bundestag for new negotiations von und zu Guttenberg MdB (CSU) in Deutscher Bundestag (2004c) Plenarprotokoll 15/114. Stenographischer Bericht. 114. Sitzung 15. Wahlperiode. Berlin, 17. June 2004, p. 10491; (2004b) Antrag. ‘Grundsätzliche Neuausrichtung der EU-Hilfsmaßnahmen für Südosteuropa’. Drucksache 15/2424. 15. Wahlperiode. 28 January 2004.

  28. 28.

    Comments to the author by a member of the European Commission team working on the Ahtisaari talks, phone interview, February 2015.

  29. 29.

    Franz-Lothar Altmann, ‘Die Balkanpolitik als Anstoß zur Europäisierung der deutschen Außenpolitik’, in Volker Perthers, Deutsche Außenpolitik nach Christoph Bertram, SWP-Studien 2005/S 28a, p. 39.

  30. 30.

    ‘Hilfe zur Revolution’ Der Spiegel, 41/2000, 9 October 2000.

  31. 31.

    See, for example, Travel Report of German Green Party Members of the Bundestag to Macedonia and Kosovo 27–28 July 1999, ‘Kurzbericht Reise nach Mazedonien und Kosovo 26. 28.7.99’.

  32. 32.

    Joachim Rücker, Standards and Status: How Kosovo became Independent (Munich: Otto Sagner, 2011), p. 73.

  33. 33.

    ‘EU considers key role to break Kosovo deadlock’, Reuters, 23 July 2007; James Ker-Lindsay, Kosovo: The Path to Contested Statehood in the Balkans (London: I.B. Taurus, 2009).

  34. 34.

    WikiLeaks (2007c) ‘Assistant Secretary Fried’s Conversation with National Security Adviser Heusgen’ US Embassy Berlin, reference ID 07BERLIN1943_a, 24 October 2007.

  35. 35.

    Interview with a senior member of the EU Troika delegation, February 2015.

  36. 36.

    Comments to the author, interview with COWEB delegation representative of an EU member state, phone interview, February 2015, and Comments to the author, interview with a senior member of the EU Troika delegation, February 2015 WikiLeaks (2007) ‘EU and Kosovo: Moving Toward Reality’ US Embassy Brussels, reference ID 07BRUSSELS3120_A, 10 October 2007.

  37. 37.

    Dimitris Papadimitriou and Petar Petrov, ‘Whose Rule, Whose Law? Contested Statehood, External Leverage and the European Union’s Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 50(5), 2012; European Union (2008a) ‘Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP of 4 February 2008 on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX KOSOVO’ Official Journal of the European Union, 16 February 2008, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:042:0092:0098:EN:PDF.

  38. 38.

    Comments to the author, interview with member of EU Troika delegation, phone interview, October 2014.

  39. 39.

    Comments to the author, interview with a senior member of the EU Troika delegation, February 2015.

  40. 40.

    Andreas Schockenhoff MdB in Deutscher Bundestag (2007) Plenarprotokoll 16/132. Stenographischer Bericht. 132. Sitzung 16. Wahlperiode. Berlin, 12 December 2007, p. 13578.

  41. 41.

    Ibid. p. 13575, p. 13809 and p. 13583.

  42. 42.

    Interview with a senior member of the EU Troika delegation, February 2015.

  43. 43.

    Wikileaks (2008a) ‘German Thoughts on Serbia’s ICJ Push and The EULEX Stand-Up in Kosovo’, 2008 September 4, 10:43 (Thursday) Canonical ID:08BERLIN1219_a.

  44. 44.

    Deutscher Bundestag (2008) Plenarprotokoll 16/144. Stenographischer Bericht. 144. Sitzung 16. Wahlperiode. Berlin, 20 February 2008, p. 15189.

  45. 45.

    ‘US outrage as Serb protesters burn embassy’, Reuters, 23 February 2008.

  46. 46.

    Walter B. Slocombe, ‘Europe, Russia and American Missile Defense’, Survival, 50(2), April–May 2008, pp. 19–24; Philip Coyle and Victoria Samson, ‘Missile Defense Malfunction: Why the opposed US Missile Defense in Europe will not work’, Ethics & International Affairs, 22(1), Spring 2008, pp. 3–23; ‘Rice Clashes with Russian on Kosovo and Missile’, New York Times, 31 May 2007; ‘Rice, Russian Clash Over Kosovo Plan, Missile Shield’, Washington Post, 31 May 2007; Ker-Lindsay, Kosovo, p. 72.

  47. 47.

    International Court of (2009) Request for Advisory Opinion transmitted to the Court Pursuant to General Assembly Resolution, Statement of the Federal Republic of Germany, April 2009 http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/15624.pdf.

  48. 48.

    Wikileaks (2008b) ‘Quint Confers On Kosovo ICJ Referral UN GA resolution’ 2008 September 9, 23:12 (Tuesday), 08USUNNEWYORK810_a A/RES/63/3; ‘Request for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on whether the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo is in accordance with international law’, 8 October 2008, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/470/97/PDF/N0847097.pdf?OpenElement. James Ker-Lindsay, ‘Explaining Serbia’s Decision to Go to the ICJ’, in Marko Milanovic and Michael Wood (editors), The Law and Politics of the Kosovo Advisory Opinion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 7.

  49. 49.

    Wikileaks (2008a) German Thoughts on Serbia’s ICJ Push and The EULEX Stand-Up In Kosovo 2008 September 4, 10:43 (Thursday) Canonical ID:08BERLIN1219_a.

  50. 50.

    Wikileaks (2009) ‘Germany to Speak at ICJ in December, Presses EULEX-Serbia Police Agreement’ 2009 September 17, 06:01; 09BERLIN1144_a.

  51. 51.

    International Court of (2009) Request for Advisory Opinion transmitted to the Court Pursuant to General Assembly Resolution, Statement of the Federal Republic of Germany, April 2009 http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/141/15624.pdf, p. 30.

  52. 52.

    Ibid., p. 27 and 37.

  53. 53.

    Wikileaks (2010a) Post ICJ Opinion: Serbia To Continue Obstructing Kosovo Independence, 2010 January 12, 13:30 (Tuesday), 10BELGRADE3_a; Wikileaks (2010b), Balkan Political Directors Discuss Kosovo And Bosnia In Brussels 2010 January 26, 09:07 (Tuesday), 10BRUSSELS85_a.

  54. 54.

    International Court of Justice, ‘Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo’, Advisory Opinion, 22 July 2010.

  55. 55.

    Marko Milanovic and Michael Wood (editors) The Law and Politics of Kosovo of the Advisory Opinion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015); James Ker-Lindsay, ‘Not Such a ‘sui generis’ Case After All: Assessing the ICJ Opinion on Kosovo’, Nationalities Papers, 39(1), 2011, pp. 1–11; Jessica Almqvist, ‘The Politics of Recognition: The Question about the Final Status of Kosovo’, in Duncan French, Statehood and Self-determination: Reconciling Tradition and Modernity in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p 195–186; James Summer, Kosovo: A Precedent—The Declaration of Independence, the Advisory Opinion and Implications for Statehood, Self-Determination and Minority Rights (Leiden, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2011).

  56. 56.

    Theresia Tögelhofer and Cornelius Adebahr, ‘Firm supporter and sever critic—Germany’s two-pronged approach to EU enlargement in the Western Balkans’, Southeastern European and Black Sea Studies 17(4), 2017, p. 529.

  57. 57.

    ‘Germany’s Angela Merkel ties Serbian EU hopes to Kosovo’, BBC News, 23 August 2011. Interestingly, this public statement came after a briefing from the EU team working on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on the ongoing talks and obstacles in the normalisation process. After a briefing with the Chancellery in preparation for the German chancellor’s visit to the region, the EEAS team was surprised to see her picking up the issues, although in a more direct and public manner than intended from Brussels. Comments to the author by a senior member of the EU Belgrade-Pristina dialogue negotiation team, January 2018.

  58. 58.

    “Serbia must sign legally binding statement with Kosovo”, B92, 13 September 2012.

  59. 59.

    Interview with an official in the German Foreign Office, September 2014.

  60. 60.

    “Bundestag divided on Serbia’s EU talks date”, B92, 22 May 2013; ‘EU countries push back date for Serbia talks’, EU Observer, 26 June 2013. ‘Bundestag committee backs opening of chapters with Serbia’, European Western Balkans, 27 November 2015; ‘The Serbian key to European peace’, Politico, 20 May 2015.

  61. 61.

    Theresia Tögelhofer and Cornelius Adebahr, ‘Firm supporter and sever critic—Germany’s two-pronged approach to EU enlargement in the Western Balkans’, p. 534.

  62. 62.

    Comments to the author, interview with official in German Foreign Office, September 2014.

  63. 63.

    See comments in plenary debate by Josip Juratovic SPD and Peter Beyer (CDU/CSU) Deutscher Bundestag Plenarprotokoll 18/179 Stenografischer Bericht 179. Sitzung Berlin, 23.06.2016, pp. 17663–17665.

  64. 64.

    European Parliament, At a Glance, The Berlin Process and the Trieste summit 2017, http://wb-csf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Berlin-Process-and-the-Trieste-Summit-2017-%E2%80%93-European-Parliament.pdf.

  65. 65.

    ‘Germany remains committed to fostering freedom of the media in the region. To this end, the Federal Foreign Office is holding a workshop for 12 leading journalists from all countries of the region as part of the conference framework programme.’ Final Declaration by the Chair of the Conference on the Western Balkans 2014. http://wb-csf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Final-Declaration-by-the-Chair-of-the-Conference-on-the-Western-Balkans.pdf.

  66. 66.

    German sources justify this with a misplaced sense of solidarity with Serbia. For more on Poland’s position, see chapter on Poland in this volume for detailed explanation of Poland’s position on Kosovo’s status.

  67. 67.

    ‘Kosovo fails in bid to gain UNESCO membership’, Reuters, 9 November 2015.

  68. 68.

    Comments to the author by German government officials, phone interviews, October 2017.

  69. 69.

    Comments to the author by German government officials, phone interviews, October 2017.

  70. 70.

    ‘Serbia scores victory as Interpol rejects Kosovo membership’, Euractive 20 11 2018, https://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/serbia-scores-victory-asinterpol-rejects-kosovo-membership/.

  71. 71.

    Comments to the author by German government officials, phone interviews, October 2017.

  72. 72.

    Comments to the author by German government officials, phone interviews, October 2017.

  73. 73.

    ‘Angela Merkel: No Balkan border changes’, POLITICO 13.08.2018 and Vučić und Thaçi wollen neue Grenzziehungen auf dem Balkan’ Der Standard, 25.08.2018.

  74. 74.

    ‘U.S., Germany Diverge on Serbia-Kosovo Plan to Redraw Border,’ Bloomberg, October 19, 2018.; Comments by Sabine Stöhr, the head of the western Balkan division in the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, at Belgrade Security Forum, 18 October 2018.

  75. 75.

    Wolfgang Ischinger, ‘As a former EU negotiator on the Kosovo-Serbia relationship, I happen to share the view that opening of the pandoras box of territorial changes should be avoided’ https://twitter.com/ischinger/status/1029342535234273280.

  76. 76.

    ‘Mercron’s Balkan breakdown’, Politico Europe, 3 May 2019.

  77. 77.

    Auswärtiges Amt, Kosovo, Beziehungen zu Deutschland, October 2017, https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/aussenpolitik/laender/kosovo-node/-/207462.

  78. 78.

    Auswärtiges Amt, Bekanntmachung des deutsch-kosovarischen Abkommens über kulturelle Zusammenarbeit, 21 October 2013.

  79. 79.

    Stefan Alscher, Johannes Obergfell and Stefanie Ricarda Roos, ‘Migrationsprofil Westbalkan Ursachen, Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze, Working Paper 63’, Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2015, p. 16–18.

  80. 80.

    Auswärtiges Amt, Kosovo, Beziehungen zu Deutschland, October 2017.

  81. 81.

    Stefan Alscher, Johannes Obergfell and Stefanie Ricarda Roos, ‘Migrationsprofil Westbalkan Ursachen, Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze, Working Paper 63’, Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2015, p. 26. ‘Deutschland macht Ernst’, Die Zeit, 15 October 2015.

  82. 82.

    ‘European Parliament approves visa liberalization negotiations’ Pristina Insight, 13 October 2018. As of November 2018 the approval by the Council for Visa liberalisation was still outstanding.

  83. 83.

    German Embassy Belgrade, ‘Gabriel in Serbien und Kosovo: Aussöhnung und Reformen fördern’, 14 February 2018, http://www.belgrad.diplo.de/Vertretung/belgrad/de/00/BM_20BesuchFebruar2018.html; ‘Gabriel im Kosovo: Außenminister warnt vor großer Kriminalität im Land’, Tagesschau, 15 February 2018.

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  1. London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Julia Himmrich

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioannis Armakolas

  2. European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    James Ker-Lindsay

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Himmrich, J. (2020). Germany: From Cautious Recogniser to Kosovo’s Key EU Ally. In: Armakolas, I., Ker-Lindsay, J. (eds) The Politics of Recognition and Engagement. New Perspectives on South-East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17945-8_4

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