The European Union has had hard nuts to crack in 2008 as the future status of Kosovo, ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, among others, remain precarious and sensitive.

 

The first thorny issue the 27-nation bloc has to handle in 2008 is that of Kosovo, a breakaway Serb province, which is likely to declare independence in the weeks to come.

 

Dimitri Rupel, foreign minister of Slovenia, which assumed since Jan. 1 the rotating EU presidency, acknowledged that his country will be faced with a hard job concerning the Kosovo issue.

 

The EU remain divided on whether to recognize a one-sided declaration of independence of Kosovo, where 90 percent residents are ethnic Albanians.

 

The province has been administered by the United Nations since 1999.

 

Most members such as France and Britain are supporters, while nations such Cyprus and Greece are hesitant in recognizing an independent Kosovo mindful that the move would trigger similar actions in their territories or elsewhere.

 

Serbia, backed by Russia, insisted that Kosovo remains an integral part of its territory, calling for continued negotiations after direct talks mediated by the troika - the United States, the European Union, and Russia - failed to yield results.

 

The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, signed by leaders of EU nations on Dec. 13, is another sensitive issue in 2008 before it is expected to go into force in the beginning of 2009.

 

The ill-fated Constitutional Treaty was aborted during the process of ratification in 2005 because of the rejection by Dutch and French voters in referenda.

 

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa voiced here on Wednesday his hope that the majority of EU states would ratify the Treaty during Slovenia's EU presidency in the first half of the year.

 

He said in addressing a plenary session of the European Parliament (EP) that "by signing the treaty, our task is far from being completed."

 

"We have now entered the period of ratification, which is - as we have learned from the 2005 experience - the most sensitive stage in the process of adoption of the treaty," he noted.

 

"The goal is to have the Lisbon Treaty enter into force on Jan.1, 2009, which among other things also means that there is still much to be done as regards the necessary preparations," Jansa stressed.

 

Under the treaty, regarded to be a revised edition of the constitutional treaty, the role of the High Representative for the European Foreign Policy will be strengthened and a president of the EU Council will be elected by a qualified majority for a period of two and a half years.

 

Analysts here believe that the wrangling for the two posts would be fierce.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)