All EU countries must now recognise Kosovo

5.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 22nd Jul 2010

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008 did not violate international law. The court therefore rejected the objections of Serbia from which Kosovo split after years of oppression and conflict and after NATO bombed Serbia to stop its war on Kosovans.

Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford was one of the founders in 1998, in her capacity as a member of the House of Lords, of an all-party support group for Kosovo at Westminster. She said:

"Today's blessing of Kosovo's statehood by the International Court of Justice should mean an end to Serbia's complaints and protestations. Serbia has to accept that it lost Kosovo because of the oppresive actions of its then leaders like Slobodan Milosevic culminating in the atrocities of 1998-99, and cannot have it back."

"All EU states must now recognise Kosovo's independence. Their is no longer any valid pretext for the refusal of Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Romania and Slovakia to acknowledge Kosovo as a country in its own right."

"This will then remove the blockage which has prevented the EU treating Kosovo the same as other Western Balkan countries - including Serbia - in terms of preparation towards EU accession and visa-free travel conditional on security measures."

Sarah Ludford is a substitute member of he European Parliament's delegation to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. She was formerly a vice-chair of that delegation and has long taken an interest in the region.

ENDS