The EU went against the US and Kosovo separatists
Despite the sharp rejection of the figure of Slovak Miroslav Lachak among the Kosovo Albanian political establishment, Brussels risked appointing a diplomat as a special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.
Balkan media reported this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The tasks of the new EU Special Representative will be to achieve a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo,” the EU headquarters said in a special statement. “Improving good neighborly relations and reconciliation between partners in the Western Balkans, helping to overcome the legacy of the past and promoting consistency and effectiveness of EU action in the Western Balkans.”
For the first time there is information that Miroslav Lachak may become the EU special representative for the Kosovo settlement appeared in the Balkan media in mid-March, and caused a strong reaction among the separatist political elite of Kosovo.
“Lacak is the most unreliable of all the politicians involved in the negotiation process,” said Kosovo “President” Hashim Thaci. “His country did not recognize the independence of Kosovo, and accordingly Kosovo’s trust in him is zero.”
Other statements by representatives of the current Kosovo leadership and politicians regarding the possible figure of a European negotiator sounded in approximately the same tone. And only the “prime minister,” after the parliament expressed a vote of no confidence in him and his cabinet, “acting.” premiere" Albin Kurti said that he was ready to work with any representative of the European Union.
After which, in late March, Brussels backed off, through the mouth of its representative said that the information in the media was premature.
“We are surprised by such a factually inaccurate statement,” the official speaker of the European Commission, Petar Stano, responded to the criticism of Kosovo “President” Hashim Thaci on his Twitter. – The procedures (for approving the candidacy of a representative - ed.) in the EU are ongoing, and the decision has not yet been made, the appointment has not taken place. Once the process is completed, we will notify the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
And now the final decision on the candidacy has been made by Brussels, Miroslav Lachak has been approved for the post of EU representative in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue with a probationary period of twelve months, a salary of 20 thousand euros and a budget of 1 million 200 thousand euros.
It is known about the European appointee that he is the creature of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell; he began his diplomatic activities in the post-Yugoslav space as the Ambassador of Slovakia to Yugoslavia. Subsequently, he had a hand in the collapse of this country, being appointed, under the patronage of Javier Solana, as the European curator of the process of secession of Montenegro.
In 2007, he became the Supreme Representative of BiH, at the first stage earning himself a reputation as an anti-Serbian politician. However, already in 2009, he curtailed many anti-Serbian reforms and resigned from his post, saying that he did not want to be “the rider of a dead horse.” He maintained good relations with the leader of the Bosnian Serbs Milorad Dodik and the leader of the Bosnian Croats Dragan Covic, with whom he continues to communicate, bypassing Sarajevo, for which he received from the Muslim elite the label of “a discredited politician who has lost the trust of the Bosniak public.”
As director for Russia, the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans at the EU External Action Service, he opposed anti-Russian sanctions, blocked Kosovo's accession to Interpol and UNESCO, as well as the recognition of the separatist enclave by his native Slovakia.
At the same time, there is no need to delude yourself about Lachak’s pro-Serbian sentiments; first of all, he will act in the interests of the European Union. And it can be assumed that Brussels decided on his candidacy in defiance of the United States, which supported Hashim Thaci, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Democratic League of Kosovo and other political forces of the region in expressing a vote of no confidence in the government of the leader of the Self-Determination movement, Albina Kurti.
The EU then expressed a negative attitude towards the process of removing the Cabinet of Ministers, who opposed American initiatives to lift XNUMX% sanctions on Serbian goods and join the “Balkan mini-Schengen”.
Moreover, the Europeans do not oppose the essence of these projects; they are more irritated that the Americans are the instigators of the Balkan integration processes, while they themselves do not have the political maturity to offer sane compromise options to all parties to the Serbo-Kosovo conflict.
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