In less than thirty years, the UK's special envoy for the Western Balkans is returning to the region for the third time.
Karen Pearce was the coordinator for this region at the British Foreign Office until 2006 and says she is returning to it with great enthusiasm.
"Economics are developing well, but I thought they could do better over the past 20 years."
"I was also a little disappointed to find narratives about other communities, neighbors, where there hasn't been enough progress in reconciliation that I had hoped for, and that's what I would like to help with," she says in an interview with BBC Serbian during a visit to Belgrade.
In two decades, he says, London's view of the Balkans has not changed much, but has been supplemented by new topics.
"Strategically, one thing has not changed: we stand for peace and stability in the region."
"The new segment is economic cooperation, we want to help develop infrastructure, but also cooperate on global issues of migration and organized crime."
Karen Pierce She was appointed as the UK's special envoy for the Western Balkans in February 2025, succeeding Stuart Peach.
Before returning to Balkan diplomacy, Karen Pearce was the first woman to hold the position of Great Britain's ambassador to the United States, and in her long diplomatic career she officially represented London at the United Nations.
'Migration is not an easy issue'
When you look at the list of responsibilities of the special envoy for the Western Balkans, some items seem expected: promotion of democratic governance and human rights, reconciliation in the region.
However, the fight against illegal migration and organized crime also made it high on the list.
"In Europe, we are particularly concerned about migrant routes and there are numerous ways in which we can work with Serbia and the Western Balkan countries on better border control, exchange of security information, data on crime, but also on the treatment of refugees and migrants."
"We hope we can reduce this problem because it would be good for both the UK and the Balkans - it benefits no one if smugglers continue to do what they do."
Migration issues will also be very high on the agenda of the Berlin Process summit, a cooperation mechanism between the Western Balkan countries, the European Union, its member states, and the United Kingdom.
This year's Process summit will be held in London this fall and will be an opportunity for European and Balkan leaders to continue discussions on migration.
The previous ones resulted in the signing of a series of agreements on the exchange of information on migration and crime in November 2024.
The BBC in March 2025. wrote that the British government was considering the possibility that people whose asylum applications in that country were rejected are being sent to the Balkans, to a kind of return centers.
"There are numerous technical discussions taking place on a range of issues relating to migration and we would certainly not comment while they are ongoing."
"These are not easy questions for all of us, but we want to raise the level of cooperation and we are very pleased with how this topic has been received in the EU and the Western Balkans," says Karen Pearce.
The proposals, which the BBC reported on a few months ago, were described as being in "early stage" discussions and could include payments to countries that would accept returnees.
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Are rights respected in Serbia?
Karen Pierce is coming to meetings with the highest Serbian officials after months of protests by students and citizens, which began with demands for accountability for the collapse of a canopy at the Novi Sad railway station, and continued with calls for parliamentary elections.
Tens of thousands of people protested on the streets of Belgrade and other cities across Serbia, but the demonstrations were also marked by police actions of arrests and the breaking up of protests and barricades.
"The right to peaceful protest is a very important, fundamental right, as is the right to freedom of speech, assembly - all of that is at the heart of an enlightened Europe."
BBC: "But are these rights fully respected in Serbia?"
"That's up to the citizens of Serbia to say, not me."
"It is certain that the level of respect for human rights needs to be improved, and it is up to Serbia to address issues of citizen participation and reforms. If we can help in any way, we would be happy to share our experiences."
When asked whether, in light of the protests, the current Serbian authorities are a reliable partner for Great Britain, Karen Pearce has no major dilemmas.
"They have been a very reliable partner so far and, as the Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Great Britain said, we really want to improve our relationship with Serbia, which our embassy in Belgrade is also working on."
"That relationship is certainly not without problems, some of those problems are regional, like Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, but we will not get anywhere if we do not have an open dialogue with the leaders of Serbia."
Watch the video of clashes between demonstrators and police in Belgrade after the protests in late June
Solutions to regional problems already exist
Regional issues are precisely what Karen Pierce worked on more than two decades ago.
"I don't think we need a new approach and a magic answer that would provide a solution for Bosnia and Herzegovina, or for the issue of Kosovo and Serbia," she says.
Negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina have been blocked for months, and since the signing of the Ohrid Agreement in the spring of 2024, there have been no significant contacts between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo.
"It is very important that the agreements are implemented - there are already very good ideas in the Brussels and Ohrid Agreements, it is only important that they are implemented."
"These are not theoretical agreements but deal with very practical issues of freedom of movement, access, participation and we would like to encourage politicians on both sides to help people and communities in this way."
In the existing solutions, Karen Pearce also sees a way out of the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country whose European integration is almost non-existent, institutions are often blocked, and the leadership of Republika Srpska makes a series of decisions that conflict with the jurisdiction of the state of which that entity is a part.
"We understand the concerns in Republika Srpska about whether they will be able to govern the entity and the Dayton Agreement allows them to do so, but Bosnia and Herzegovina can only progress economically and towards EU membership as a single state."
“We do not want to take anything away from Republika Srpska as an entity, nor from Bosnian Serbs as a constituent people in BiH,” notes Karen Pierce.
However, she has no dilemma as to where she will also turn to with the desire to establish a better functioning of BiH.
"We are very concerned about the secessionist moves of some of the leaders of Republika Srpska - this does not help Bosnia and Herzegovina make further progress and economic development that would benefit every citizen."
"Therefore, we will appeal to our friends in Serbia to help Bosnia and Herzegovina move forward, and that means not supporting separatist tendencies in Republika Srpska," she concludes.
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