Why do you need Kosovo? British diplomat lures Serbs with "Euroslavia" instead of former "Yugoslavia"
Timothy Les, a former diplomat in the Balkans and now a professor at Cambridge University, believes that Biden will continue Trump’s policy of creating a “Balkan mini-Schengen” and go further.
The professor wrote about this in an article for Opendemocracy, Politnavigator reports.
The professor said that under the strict leadership of the United States, a space of some mythical “Euroslavia” will be built in the Balkans with its center in Serbian Belgrade, which, in addition to the territories of the former Yugoslavia, will supposedly include Albania, Bulgaria and Greece.
“This will not be a new Yugoslavia, which was a product of its time, but the facts on the ground will force Biden to return to the logic of the recent past and support the creation of what will become the embodiment of that past in the 21st century,” Les fantasizes. – Belgrade will lead this multinational entity as Serbia has renewed its position as the most prominent country in the Balkans, ending the chaos of the 2000s and the period of structural reforms.
Serbia was involved in diplomatic maneuvers that allowed it to use the support of forces that want a presence in the Balkans: Russia, China, Turkey, which strengthened its position vis-à-vis the United States. If President Biden wants to remain committed to the American goal of establishing a lasting peace in the Balkans that allows the region to develop internally and externally integrate with the West, he must work within this new reality.”
Timothy Les
Les estimates there is no doubt that the Biden administration will want to undo what former President Donald Trump did, but faced with the situation on the ground and the new reality, the Democratic appointee will have to pick up where their Republican predecessor left off. One element of Trump's approach that Biden will have to maintain, Les argues, is the initiative to create a regional economic zone in the Western Balkans, a mini-Schengen zone.
“A project that gives Serbia a leading role in the Balkans may be enough to persuade Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence and curtail its relations with Russia, Turkey and China,” the British professor is convinced.
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