BRUSSELS – The European Union should immediately close the Pandora box of further talks on redrawing Balkan borders, writes European Stability Initiative in its analysis titled “The Hypnotist – Aleksandar Vučić, John Bolton and the return of the past”.
The analysis was published on 25 April in Berlin, four days before the the Western Balkan Summit in the German capital, during which Serbia-Kosovo relations are expected to be in focus.
“The European Union should immediately close the Pandora box of further talks on redrawing Balkan borders. At the same time, the European Union should offer Serbia, Kosovo and all other Balkan countries the prospect of real, tangible progress”, ESI states.
According to the authors of the analysis, Germany, France and other EU members should make clear that they are also prepared to take more responsibility for security in the Balkans if at any moment the US president decides to withdraw all US troops.
EU should also warn Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić that the war-mongering by Serbian government ministers has to stop.
“As full membership remains unlikely for any accession country before 2025, a concrete, ambitious and meaningful goal could be set for all Western Balkan countries: to meet the required standards to become full members of the EU’s common market by 2025”, ESI reports.
Initiative reminds that Aleksandar Vučić and Hashim Thaçi have announced in November last year that they have been thinking about the border exchange as part of the agreement on normalizing the relations. The idea has been welcomed by some European diplomats and from 2018 has enjoyed US support after John Bolton has become Advisor to the President for National Security Affairs.