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Don’t leave the Balkans to Europe | American Enterprise Institute - AEI Ivana Stradner 3-4 minutes _____ Op-Ed For all its bungling and missteps, the Trump Administration’s decision to pay attention to the Kosovo-Serbia dispute is a step in the right direction. July 24, 2020 Transatlantic relations, on fragile footing for the better part of the last three and a half years, have been fracturing further across a region that has in the recent past been a rare area of policy consensus. The Western Balkans, always a difficult portfolio, had seen a rare breakthrough agreement in 2018, when Greece and North Macedonia signed the Prespa Agreement, putting an end to a contentious dispute that had lasted for decades. Behind the scenes, Washington and Brussels had been instrumental in brokering the deal, paving the way for North Macedonia to resume its journey to full euroatlantic integration. There was hope that the Serbia-Kosovo dispute, an even thornier issue, might see a similar breakthrough. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi had been promising one for years, dropping hints that an agreement was within reach. Such hopes were dashed late last month. First, the government of Kosovo collapsed during the coronavirus pandemic. Kosovo’s former Prime Minister Albin Kurti, a darling of Berlin and a critic of the ongoing discussions, subsequently alleged that Richard Grenell, Trump’s top official for Kosovo-Serbia talks, had engineered his ouster. In June, Thaçi was indicted for war crimes as he travelled to meet Vucic in Washington at a summit put together by Grenell. His backers <https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/25/kosovan-presidents-war-crimes-indictment-puts-west-in-a-bind-339364> allege that the charges—and their timing—were politically motivated to scuttle the talks. In early July, the EU resumed the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue for the first time since 2018. Unsurprisingly, however, the only outcome was more meetings—another round of which is taking place today. If the past is any indication, these talks are going nowhere. The stench of stale thinking permeates the corridors in Brussels. The European promise of speeding Serbia’s accession to the EU, its main “carrot” for inducing Serbia to compromise, is barely credible any longer. The EU, meanwhile, has not delivered on its promise of visa liberalization for Kosovo despite its meeting the relevant criteria two years ago. That “carrot” is so rotten that waving it in front of Kosovo’s face is borderline insulting. This mental sclerosis is compounded by some truly bizarre personnel choices. At least from Kosovo’s perspective, Europe doesn’t just look incompetent; it looks malicious. Its two top officials for Kosovo are from Spain and Slovakia, two states that still do not recognize Kosovo as independent. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell’s appointment of Miroslav Lajcak, the former Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, was met with skepticism in Kosovo, as well as in Bosnia where he served as High Representative over ten years ago. Lajcak lobbied <https://euobserver.com/opinion/147510> hard within the EU to be in charge of the entire Western Balkans and “requested a much broader portfolio than just the Kosovo-Serbia negotiations, despite knowing very well that this in itself is a full-time job.” In practice, this means that he managed to connect the Serbia-Kosovo dispute to Bosnia. Continue reading at <https://www.the-american-interest.com/2020/07/23/dont-leave-the-balkans-to-europe/> The American Interest <https://www.the-american-interest.com/2020/07/23/dont-leave-the-balkans-to-europe/> . <https://www.the-american-interest.com/2020/07/23/dont-leave-the-balkans-to-europe/> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SERBIAN NEWS NETWORK" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/senet/019e01d66264%24676ee1e0%24364ca5a0%24%40gmail.com.
