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SERBIA-KOSOVO-FRANCE-GERMANY-BALKANS-POLITICS
Macron and Merkel try to resurrect Serbia-Kosovo talks at Balkan summit
BERLIN, April 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – European leaders will try to bring
bitter foes Serbia and Kosovo back to the negotiating table at a regional
summit in Berlin on Monday, hoping to reboot a dialogue over one of the
Balkans’ thorniest disputes.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are
hosting the neighbours, whose relationship has taken a turn for the worse in
recent months, alongside other Western Balkans leaders and EU members Croatia
and Slovenia.
The gathering will centre on the “stability of the region, with a
particular focus on finding a way to relaunch the dialogue between Serbia and
Kosovo,” the French presidency said in a briefing ahead of the summit.
The Macron-Merkel initiative comes after EU-led talks between Serbia and
Kosovo ground to a halt last year.
The nub of the dispute is Belgrade’s denial of the independence of Kosovo,
a former province that broke away in a bloody 1998-99 war.
The Brussels-led dialogue collapsed several months after talk of possible
border changes between the neighbours, as a way to reach an accord, triggered
a stinging backlash last summer.
Critics warned that redrawing the map would be a risky business in the
fragile Balkans, a region still recovering from its 1990s wars.
Then came a series of diplomatic clashes between Pristina and Belgrade
that deepened their hostility, in particular Kosovo’s decision to levy a 100-
percent tariff on Serbian goods in November.
A stalemate has ensued. Kosovo’s Prime Minister says he will keep the tax
until Belgrade shows openness to recognising independence, while Serbia says
it will not talk until the tariff is removed.
Downplaying expectations for a major breakthrough on Monday, German
government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said the summit is “primarily about an
exchange of views.”
“How far we can get during the meeting is something that I cannot
foretell,” she added.
The French presidency also assured that the summit was not an effort to
replace the European Commission-led process, whose future is uncertain as EU
elections loom, but only to “promote exchanges”.
– ‘Sceptical’ on border changes –
As for whether the land-swap proposal would be discussed Monday, Demmer
said Germany remains “sceptical about border changes as part of a solution,
in so far as they could pose risks for the region.”
While the exact details of the plan have never been laid out, local media
and analysts assume the land swap would see Kosovo’s Serb-dominated north
traded for a southern valley in Serbia that is mainly ethnic-Albanian, like
the rest of Kosovo.
Washington and some EU officials appeared open to discussing such a deal,
but Germany has been one of the clearest critics of any border changes, which
many worry would further segregate the region along ethnic lines.
Ahead of the Berlin summit, both Serbia and Kosovo took a cautious line.
“At this moment, I don’t understand how and what to talk with Pristina
about,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said last week during a visit to
Beijing. But he added that he has “always respected” Merkel and Macron and
that was “sure they are smarter than me and will figure out something.”
In Kosovo, President Hashim Thaci said the summit “might open up
opportunities, but it might be disappointing as well.”
While Thaci is in favour of revoking the tariff, his Prime Minister Ramush
Haradinaj has been intransigent despite heavy EU and US pressure.
“No tax will be revoked either at this summit or at any other summit,”
Haradinaj reiterated last week.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0849 hrs