Here, Geremek was quick to stress that the OSCE fully recognized that, while ethnic Albanians were a minority in Yugoslavia as a whole, they were a majority in Kosovo. This determined the choice of strategy. Our way to approach the question was to abandon political rhetoric of the difficult choice between the national autonomy asked for by the Albanians from Kosovo and the local autonomy proposed by the Yugoslav authorities. We tried to introduce concrete issues. As OSCE chairman, Geremek sent 2,000 monitors to Kosovo last year to verify a fragile cease-fire between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb security forces.
Oil is a natural wealth of that region, but water is a regional problem.
And water and oil should be a matter of political dialogue. I think that OSCE can create a framework for it. But he said the effects of the dispute extend beyond the region and concern European security as a whole. France, Russia and the United States currently chair the group. The OSCE also maintains a monitoring mission in Armenia's capital Yerevan that is responsible for watching over the developments in the disputed area.