WASHINGTON – The US is focused on the economy, while politics is the European issue and will be the next phase of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations, said Richard Grenell, the US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, KoSSev reported.
“The US policy has been to suspend our support as long as Kosovo conducted damaging politics. No one should expect us to always write blank checks. I have been clear, and I don’t know how many times I have to say to all those included in this that the US firmly believes that his 20-year-long conflict between Kosovo and Serbia will be solved through economic normalisation, jobs for youths and development”, Grenell said.
He referred to the forthcoming meeting between Belgrade and Pristina delegations at White House on 27 June, adding US President would not attend.
Grenell told that he discusses the vision of the two-phase talks, with the French and German advisors.
“The first step is economic normalisation. The US is focused on the economy. All political issues are the European topics in the second phase. The vision we share with the French and Germans is that we won’t succeed in political talks without creating jobs for young people and the economic normalisation first,” Grenell said.
According to Grenell, the second step can be successful after the first one is made.
He stressed that Washington has made crystal clear to Paris and Berlin that as soon as the economic recovery starts, as soon as Belgrade and Pristina reach agreements on-air, railroad and road traffic it will be easier for the European to deal with the political issues.
Grenell: Kosovo-Serbia land swap the idea of John Bolton, not Donald Trump
Richard Grenell blamed former Trump’s advisor for national security, John Bolton, for the fact that he is constantly in a situation to deny rumours about the exchange of territories.
“I am constantly fighting against that rumour about the exchange of territories between Kosovo and Serbia. It’s not Trump’s policy, but when you do enough research, both sides say so, that’s what Bolton said,” Grenell told Fox News.
He stressed that he is in such a situation because Bolton forced his own policy, instead of Donald Trump’s policy.
He reiterated that representatives of the Serbian and Kosovo delegations would gather in Washington next week to discuss the historic shift and agreement.
John Bolton said last August that land-swap in Kosovo was no longer a “red line” for the United States, which was widely interpreted as a change in the United States’ position on the final solution to the Kosovo issue.