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Devolution, Kosovo, & the Lords
In 1999 NATO, celebrated its 50th anniversary and for the first time in its history went to war. It bombed Kosovo but failed in its announced objective of preventing Serbian ambitions towards Albanian Kosovars. The refusal of the majority of the allies to commit ground troops at the beginning of the operation meant that the Serbian forces and police were able to commit a series of atrocities without the unprecedented bombing campaign interrupting them. What might have been a successful development of the Ulster Peace Process stalled in July when the Unionists led by the first minister, David Trimble, refused to form the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive as long as the terrorist groups refused to give up weapons. The process was "put on hold". In Brussels a new European Commission replaced its disgraced predecessor which had been forced to resign after substantial allegations of maladministration and corruption. The British government became less enthusiastic about publicly supporting the new currency, the Euro, after its value could not hold up against Sterling and the US dollar. By the second half of the year, the Euro began to recover, but the British government had learned its lesson and tempered any enthusiasms it once had. As the 1900s ended much attention focused on the Millennium Dome even though as a concept it was nothing more than a version of the 1951 Festival of Britain. Whether this was a symbol of the state of public Britain at the end of the Century or a tacky sound-bite that had to be made to work is a strong debating point in the closing months of the century.
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