"Kosovo is blocking the EU plan - is there a danger of a new wave of violence in the Balkans?" Under that title, the report from Brussels is published on its website by the most widely circulated German newspaper, tabloid Bild.
"The EU's efforts to calm the tensions between the Balkan countries, Serbia and Kosovo, have failed again," writes Bild, stating that "after Kurti's blockade, there was a clear rebuke from Brussels aimed at Pristina" and that "the EU accuses Kosovo of preventing the normalization of relations with Serbia." .“
DON'T MISS IT
The report also quotes EU High Representative Josep Borelj's words last Thursday after the meeting: "It was not possible to bridge the differences."
Bild asked Jakov Devčić, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Belgrade office, for his opinion on the current situation. He believes that "there is a risk of further tension and violence" in the coming months.
"In my opinion, Kurti and Vučić are rational actors who are aware of their national and personal interests. It would not benefit either one or the other if there were violent excesses between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians or if they withdrew from the dialogue process," believes the head of the Belgrade office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
At the same time, Devčić warns that "all types of violence must be prevented", and that "the window of opportunity to achieve 'real' normalization will quickly close." Namely, "The European elections in June and the American presidential elections in October 2024 will tie the hands of the West." Until then, we have to calm down the current, acute situation in the north of Kosovo," warns Devčić in a statement to Bild.
"The process appears to be at an impasse"
The Austrian newspaper Standard publishes an extensive text in which it is assessed that "the very fact that Vučić and Kurti met last Thursday after the escalation of the conflict at the beginning of the summer was a kind of success."
However, "diplomats now admit that the implementation plan (of the Ohrid Agreement) should have been made at the beginning, because now both the Serbian and Kosovo governments can constantly blame each other for the non-implementation of the agreement and thus completely terminate it. This is exactly what is happening now. A spokesman for the US State Department said after the last meeting that 'time is running out'. "Americans obviously no longer want to watch Europeans fail to achieve something," writes the Vienna newspaper.
"It seems that the process is at a dead end," assesses "Standard" and at the same time reports that "the EU has been debating for months whether to replace the diplomat Lajcak, after there has been no progress in the dialogue under his leadership in recent years."
"EU diplomats seem nervous, because they have no success to show, and the Franco-German plan is clearly not working. At the same time, Western powers have a great interest in tying Serbia to the EU, because they fear that the Serbian government could otherwise get even closer to Russia. Many Kosovars, meanwhile, accuse the West of exerting "unilateral pressure" on Kosovo to prioritize the establishment of the Union of Serbian Municipalities. They believe that the mediators are not neutral, and some see them as a party that has its own interests," says the "Standard" newspaper.
Bonus video:
