European involvement in the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia does not help. That is why the EU must switch to a fundamentally different approach, argues Marjolein Koster, a journalist with a focus on the Balkans, at BNR Boekestijn and De Wijk. ‘Pristina and Belgrade have been talking to each other under the leadership of the EU for more than ten years. But what they’ve done so far doesn’t seem to be working.’
Koster points to the concentration of the conflict in four northern provinces where Serbs are in the majority. ‘Those 50,000 or so ethnic Serbs are perhaps the biggest casualty of what is happening right now. While it is constantly said that those Kosovo Serbs are leading the protests against NATO troops and new mayors, they are definitely on the side. They believe Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić are talking over their heads, because neither of them represent that group.’
Tensions rise between Serbia and Kosovo. Meanwhile, the European Union is desperately trying to lead the dialogue between the two countries and increase contacts with the Western Balkans. Jens Stoltenberg argued on Twitter that Kosovo and Serbia should engage in EU-led talks. Koster sees it as a symbolic tweet from the head of NATO. “There is a lot of mutual distrust. Both sides have violated agreements and failed to honor agreements in the past. Of course it accumulates and this has now led to an escalation.’
The crux of the problem is that Serbia did not recognize Kosovo as an independent country from the start. The picture is that Serbia is more focused on Russia and China, but this “framework” is not entirely correct, says Koster. ‘A very large part of Serbia is pro-EU. The economic ties with the European Union are much stronger than with Russia, so it’s mainly an ideological, anti-NATO position.’
In recent years, the European Union has failed to honor its commitments concerning the future EU membership of the Western Balkan countries. This has created a sort of EU weariness in those countries. “They still want to belong to the Union and they are willing to give a lot to join the EU, for example North Macedonia has even changed its name. The attitude of the EU and the United States towards Serbia reminds us of this”.
And this sentiment is not illogical, says Professor of International Relations Rob de Wijk, given the NATO intervention in Kosovo in 1999, without a mandate from the United Nations Security Council. ‘This is echoed in NATO not only in Serbia, but also in China and Russia. That intervention gave Kosovo independence, which is not recognized by five or six EU countries, including Spain. You see agreements are being made all the time, with the EU and the US. Every time they want to normalize relations and every time they fail. So those tensions run very deep.’
“I am also sure that last year’s Serbian elections were not fair”
There has been a power vacuum in northern Kosovo for months, due to a conflict over the mutual recognition of license plates, the so-called license plate crisis. That confrontation led to the resignation of all Serbian government officials, resulting in a power vacuum. The resulting elections were initially supported by the international community, which backed down when the election results also led to the unilateral appointment of mainly Kosovar Albanian mayors.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, meanwhile, seems to benefit above all from keeping instability intact in the region. Whether this is for a broader long-term goal or simply Vučić’s lust for power is unclear according to Koster, but he is clearly interested in favoring the major powers. “He has enormous influence over the media in his country, I’m also sure last year’s elections, which he narrowly won, were not fair. He certainly has the support, although last month we also saw huge protests against he’.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
