The Stability pact for South Eastern Europe - potential, problems and perspectives. ZEI Discussion Papers: 1999, C 56

[From the Introduction]. 1. Europe and the Balkans at a cross-roads. Crises sometimes happen to be turning points in history, serving as eyeopeners that stimulate a fundamental reversal of behaviour. The Chinese language has created a symbol uniquely reflecting this reality: the ideogram for 'crisis' is composed of two characters which separately mean 'danger' and 'opportunity'. In retrospect, historians might view the date of 10 June 1999 as such a turning point in history, embodying both tragedy and hope. It was on this very day that the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution No. 1244, which finally put an end to the war in Kosovo; and on the same day a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Cologne, assembling representatives from 38 countries and 15 international organisations, formally endorsed the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, thus marking the start of a new phase in international Balkan politics