A number of media outlets from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, citing “diplomatic sources”, stated that Slovenia, which will preside over the EU, has a plan for further territorial division of the Western Balkans.
The author of the plan is called Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the Croatian publication Jutarnji list, citing “sources in Brussels,” Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa handed over to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, a document on the priorities of Slovenia’s EU presidency, which also sets out the basic principles of the “final disintegration of Yugoslavia.” In this form, he allegedly wanted to inform the head of the Council of Europe about the priorities of Slovenia’s presidency of the European Union, which will begin on July 1 of this year.
In turn, the Brussels correspondent of the Slovenian publication Delo Peter Žeržević wrote on his Twitter that Charles Michel’s office confirmed to him that he had received Janša’s “unofficial document”, but less than half an hour later they said: “We cannot confirm that we have received an unofficial document.” .
The Bosnian portal Politički.ba, citing sources in “foreign intelligence”, announced that Janša advocates changing the borders of Serbia and Kosovo in a format that was promoted this summer by the administration of US President Donald Trump, but Germany opposed it (the exchange of northern Serbian enclaves of Kosovo to the predominantly Albanian-populated Presevo Valley in Serbia).
The portal claims that Janša went even further, proposing the possibility of secession of Republika Srpska from BiH, annexation of Albanian-majority parts of Montenegro and North Macedonia in favor of Albania, and annexation of Western Herzegovina in favor of Croatia.
The backup option for Janša's proposed plan is the creation of three national republics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In return, the Bosniaks will have to receive a territorial corridor to the Mediterranean Sea under NATO guarantees.
The information from the Bosnian media probably would not have had any consequences if it had not been raised to a higher level by the conditionally Croatian (actually loyal to the Bosniak elite of Sarajevo and chosen by the Bosniak votes) member of the BiH Presidency Zeljko Komsic, whose office summoned the Slovenian Ambassador to demand clarification in BiH Zorica Bukinac.
At the meeting, the ambassador assured Komsic that Slovenia's policy towards BiH has not changed and that Slovenia supports BiH's European path while fulfilling the conditions for EU accession, Radio Sarajevo reported.
In turn, Janša has already posted on social networks that he last saw Michel last year and, therefore, it would be “difficult for him to physically convey something to him.” He stressed that Slovenia is looking for solutions for the development of the region and a European perspective for the countries of the Western Balkans, “but such articles try to prevent the achievement of this goal.”
Meanwhile, Slovenian newspaper 24ur reported that it had received confirmation that the disputed secret document did exist, but it was believed to have been sent through normal diplomatic channels.
“Even the highest representatives of Slovenia in Brussels did not see him,” the publication writes.
Thus, today it is impossible to say with complete confidence that Slovenia, during its chairmanship, intends to provoke a process of further fragmentation of the Western Balkans, but one thing can be said for sure: there is no smoke without fire.