Kosovo is planning to issue a unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia today.

I believe this is an important event for England because it sets a precedent for emerging nations.  English independence isn’t one of the CEP’s policies but it’s an inportant precedent nonetheless because it recognises a nation’s right to determine how they are governed whether the “occupying power” agrees or not.

I was reading through Wikipedia for some background information on Kosovo and came across this:

After Yugoslavia’s name change to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia’s to the Socialist Republic of Serbia in 1953, Kosovo gained inner autonomy in the 1960s. In the 1974 constitution, the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo’s government received higher powers, including the highest governmental titles – President and Prime Minister and a seat in the Federal Presidency which made it a de facto Socialist Republic within the Federation, but remaining as a Socialist Autonomous Province within the Socialist Republic of Serbia. Tito had pursued a policy of weakening Serbia, as he believed that a “Weak Serbia equals a strong Yugoslavia”. To this end Vojvodina and Kosovo became autonomous regions and were given the above entitled privileges as de facto republics. Serbo-Croatian, Albanian and Turkish were defined as official languages on the provincial level marking the two largest linguistic Kosovan groups: Albanians and Serbs. In the 1970s, an Albanian nationalist movement pursued full recognition of the Province of Kosovo as another Republic within the Federation, while the most extreme elements aimed for full-scale independence. Tito’s arbitrary regime dealt with the situation swiftly, but only giving it a temporary solution.

This could quite easily read:

Scotland gained inner autonomy in the 1850s. In the 1997 constitution, the Socialist Autonomous Province of Scotland’s government received higher powers, including the highest governmental title – First [Prime] Minister and a seat in the Federal Parliament which made it a de facto Socialist Republic within the Federation, but remaining as a Socialist Autonomous Province within the United Kingdom. The British establishment had pursued a policy of weakening England, as they believed that a “Weak England equals a strong Britain”. To this end Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland became autonomous regions and were given the above entitled privileges as de facto republics. Welsh and Gaelic were defined as official languages on the provincial level marking the three largest linguistic Celtic groups: Scotland, Welsh and Irish. In the 1960s, a Scottish nationalist movement pursued full recognition of the Province of Scotland as another Republic within the Federation, while the most extreme elements aimed for full-scale independence. The British estblishment’s arbitrary regime dealt with the situation swiftly, but only giving it a temporary solution.

It’s taken 34 years for Kosovo to get from being given autonomy to the point of declaring independence.  Scotland has had 11 years so far, will it take another 23 years before Scotland finally declares independence?

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