Cardiff Summit: Split on Kosovo military action

THE EUROPEAN Union tightened the sanctions screw yesterday against the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, but is split down the middle on whether to go ahead with military action in Kosovo without the authority of a specific resolution in the United Nations Security Council.

Although Britain and Germany believe legal corners may have to be cut in the higher interest of preventing Mr Milosevic from exploiting any delay to intensify the crackdown against the ethnic Albanian majority in the province, most EU countries believe a resolution is essential.

At a lunch meeting of foreign ministers devoted almost entirely to the Balkan crisis, an "overwhelming majority" of those present said it was "indispensable" to have authorisation from the UN, according to Lamberto Dini, the Italian foreign minister. "We have to act in a legal framework."

The argument was reflected in a statement afterwards which announced that, following the example of Britain, the United States, Germany, France and Italy in their Contact Group talks in London on Friday, all 15 EU countries will ban all flights by Yugoslav and Serbian carriers until Mr Milosevic changes his ways in Kosovo.

But the statement sidestepped the Security Council issue, referring merely to the "much stronger response, of a qualitatively different order" that will be required if the crisis continues. It spoke vaguely of a "full range of options", including those that "may require" authorisation at the UN.

Kosovo's wounds, page 12