[ad_1]
Former Balkan diplomat Timothy Les says the region, under the leadership of the new US chief, could be a new multi-ethnic entity, closely linked to the EU. That would be the embodiment of what was once a great state.
Former Balkan diplomat Timothy Les tells that the region, under new US President Joe Biden, will be a kind of “EU-Yugoslavia”, a new multi-ethnic entity, closely linked to the EU, which includes six Western Balkan countries based in Belgrade. .
– It will not be a new Yugoslavia, which was a product of its time. But the facts on the ground will force Biden to go back to the logic of the recent past and commit to creating his own 21st-century incarnation, the new EU-Yugoslavia, Les writes in an authorship for Opendemokracy.net.
A new reality
He points out that there is no doubt that the Biden administration will want to annul what the former head of America, Donald Trump, did, that some already predict the rejection of the Serbs and “their dreams of a new territorial agreement”, but that this thought ignores the new strategic reality. It adds that since European integration was broken for various reasons, Serbia, meanwhile, has renewed its position as the most prominent country in the Balkans following the emergence of a strong leader that ended the chaos of the 2000s and the period of structural reforms. He also points out to them that Serbia has engaged in “clever diplomatic maneuvers”, which has allowed it to use the support of non-Western powers that want a presence in the Balkans: Russia, China, Turkey. That, he adds, has strengthened Serbia’s position in relation to the United States.
– If President Biden wants to remain faithful to the US goal of establishing some kind of lasting peace in the Balkans, allowing their internal development and external integration with the West, he must work within the framework of this new reality – Les writes in the text.
Some are against
According to Ivica Dacic, president of the Assembly and former head of diplomacy, Serbia supports closer coordination of the region, but many countries are against it.
Photo: Tanjug / Tara Radovanović
– We are always ready for closer coordination of actions in the common interest of all in the Western Balkans, but that is not to the liking of some, and they also opposed the mini-Schengen because it looks like Yugoslavia and will be under Serbian rule , as they say – says. Dacic.
Zoran Milivojević, career diplomat: it is more realistic for everyone to join the EU
Former diplomat Zoran Milivojevic, for his part, doubts that developing the situation as Les predicted is really possible. – The most that states have done is renounce sovereignty to join the EU. Yugoslavia was a prototype of how the state should work, but it is difficult to rebuild it, without everyone agreeing voluntarily – says Milivojevic. He adds that the maximum is that this area is supported in the EU, so that an environment can be created that solves all the open questions and we should go back to the area that once worked according to the SFRY principle. – However, what is not bad is that things have changed and that nothing can be done in the region without Serbia. The whole region can be integrated only if the position of Serbia is respected.
[ad_2]
