NAGORSKI: Do you still feel that the NATO bombing resulted in victory in Kosovo? SOLANA: I never liked to call it a victory for NATO; I considered it a victory for the principles and values that were defended not only by NATO but by the many other countries that participated in one way or another in the operation. We could not accept the behavior of Milosevic; we could not accept once again in Europe this type of ethnic cleansing.

The worst mass executions of Kosovars took place after the NATO bombing started. Was NATO right in its strategy? I disagree with those who say that the military action was the cause of the ethnic cleansing. History shows very clearly that the ethnic cleansing had begun much earlier. There were more than 300,000 refugees before NATO started its operation. We stopped the ethnic cleansing. It’s true that many people were displaced after the bombing started. It was a criminal reaction of Milose-vic’s. It’s also true that a few days after the bombing ended, they returned. They are now trying to start a normal life in Kosovo. I have no doubt that we did what we should have done.

Should the ground-war option have been left open early on to try to avert what happened? To blame NATO for the behavior of Milosevic is wrong. We cannot forget that he behaved this way for years and years. The ground option was always there. But even if the ground option would have been used, the air campaign would have been absolutely necessary. You couldn’t have had any kind of ground option without starting with an air operation.

What about the revenge killings of Serbs and Gypsies? We condemn that very strongly and try to prevent it. A country cannot be built on revenge. We are appealing to all those Serbs who want to return to do so, and for the leaders of the Kosovar community to behave in the proper way to construct a multiethnic society.

There have been charges that many of the revenge killings of Serbs and Gypsies were instigated by the KLA, NATO’s de facto ally. Can you rein in the KLA? There has been no proof that the leaders of the KLA have done that. But we have condemned that behavior in the strongest manner, whoever does it. The KLA have committed themselves to demilitarization that has been completed. But we will not tolerate a militarized KLA.

Many people argue that the only realistic solution that will keep some Serbs in Kosovo is partition. I’m very much against partition. Partition would signal a failure of the ideas that we were defending; it’d be a recognition that people just aren’t able to live together. For me, partition would be a moral failure, like saying that in Central Europe the values of tolerance are lost.

When you move to your new EU job, what recommendations will you bring for dealing with Serbia now? Serbia has a role to play in the reconstruction of the Balkans as a whole. But that will be impossible with the leadership they now have, with Milosevic. What the region needs, not only Serbia, are leaders who are really looking to the future, not to the past.

Will there be a time when Europe will be able to deal with a crisis like Kosovo without having the U.S. take the lead? Yes, I think there will be and should be. The transatlantic link is the core of the defense of this continent, but I can imagine moments when the United States and Canada may not want to participate in an operation of this nature. And the Europeans have the obligation to be prepared to do that. Don’t forget that at this moment the majority of forces on the ground in Kosovo are European, and the commander is European, although it’s true that the Americans were the majority in the air campaign.

Did the international community respond too slowly to the crisis in East Timor? In East Timor as in Kosovo, the countries have acted rapidly. Today as we talk they are already deploying 2,000 troops. It’s pretty fast. There has been a lot of suffering and killing. But we cannot blame those who are trying to be part of the solution; we have to blame those who are part of the problem. In Kosovo, that’s Milosevic; in East Timor, that’s the military or paramilitary forces of Indonesia.