If we compare the ambitions expressed five years ago by the High Representative, Josep Borrell, for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, describing it as one of the main priorities, with the results achieved, it has failed. Perhaps it is good that his successor Kaja Kallas does not mention it at all and does not prioritize it. Maybe it goes with the motto “under promise-overdeliver”! (less promises and bigger results). Borrelli and Lajçaku may have prioritized dialogue, but they simply failed. The finding is made in comparison with their expectations and not on a subjective basis. This failure may have also discouraged Kaja Kallas, who will not know how to continue from now on
By Augustin PALOKAJ
Rightly or wrongly, the opinion in the region and many familiar with EU policy in the Western Balkans were surprised, and even worried, by the fact that in the hearing session in the European Parliament, the candidate for High Representative of Foreign and Security Policy , Kaja Kallas, during more than three hours of debate, did not mention the Western Balkans as a priority, or even the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, for which she will be responsible as a facilitator on behalf of the EU. Only in the last question at the very end of the session did she mention the dialogue, even though the question was about Bosnia-Herzegovina. She only said that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will be one of the ways to work in the region and that her predecessors “have invested a lot of time for stability in the region”.
This lack of focus on the region, not only from her, but also from the deputies who did not ask questions, proves two things. The first is how much things have changed in the EU and abroad, so that interest in the Balkans falls to a very low level. And the second fact is that even in the EU they simply don’t know what to say or what to do with the dialogue. Because even in the EU they may be frustrated with their failures as facilitators in dialogue, but also fed up with the behavior of the parties who sometimes want and sometimes don’t want to meet, sometimes want and sometimes don’t want to sign, sometimes want and sometimes they don’t want to implement.
It looked completely different five years ago when the European Parliament deputies questioned the then candidate for the head of the EU’s common foreign policy, Josep Borrell. Questions about dialogue were among the most frequently asked questions. The MPs did not hesitate to ask him personal questions about his stance against the independence of Kosovo, which he had when he was the foreign minister of Spain. He, with the experience he had, deftly convinced the deputies that he will commit to the EU “speaking with one voice”, even though he was among the culprits of why the EU did not speak with one voice in the case of Kosovo, and does not speak even today five years that he is in charge of the diplomatic service of the EU. He and the special envoy, Miroslav Lajçak, also Borrell’s co-conspirator regarding the rejection of Kosovo’s independence, ensured that mutual recognition was not part of the dialogue during the five years that they had the dialogue in hand. But at least Borrell made dialogue a high priority.
Borrelli, when asked about Kosovo and the Balkans, said that this region will be a priority in his work. He had said that reaching an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia will be a priority in his work in the next five-year mandate and warned that Pristina will be his first destination that he will visit when he starts his mandate. Kallas said that he will visit the region “in the part of  first of her term”, but this may fall to her until the summer of 2027, when the second part of her term begins!
Josep Borrell said that, according to him, “the dialogue has lasted too long” and that he expects the parties to show more commitment in the dialogue.
Borrell was directly asked how reliable his role in the dialogue will be since he comes from a country that has not recognized Kosovo. He answered this question, saying that the recognition of a state is the competence of the member states and in this regard Spain is not a problem. But he said that Kosovo “as long as it is not recognized by Russia and China, it cannot be a state”. He had promised that regardless of this, he will engage in the region, because “there is a difference between recognition and joint commitment”.
“I am convinced that if we are not able to act together, the EU will become irrelevant,” Borrell said. He had said that “if we are not able to solve the problems at home, we cannot be global actors” considering the engagement in the Western Balkans.
Here’s what we can find five years later. 2019 years have been added to Borrell’s sentence from 5 that “the dialogue has lasted too long”! His sentence that the EU will become “irrelevant” if it does not solve its problems at home proved to be correct. Today the EU is really irrelevant in many parts of the world and, it seems, it is becoming so in the Western Balkans region as well.
This time I am not dealing with Miroslav Lajcak and his expectations that “a comprehensive agreement will be reached within a few months, not years”, but only with Borrell and his potential successor. And then she must decide if it is worth it, from the point of view of the large financial expenses, but also from the efficiency, to have Lajcak’s successor at all.
If we compare the ambitions expressed five years ago by the High Representative Josep Borrell for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, describing it as one of the main priorities, with the results achieved, then it has failed. Perhaps it is good that his successor Kaja Kallas does not mention it at all and does not prioritize it. Maybe it goes with the motto “under promise-overdeliver”! (less promises and bigger results). Borrell and Lajcak may have prioritized dialogue, but they simply failed. The finding is made in comparison with their expectations and not on a subjective basis. This failure may have discouraged Kaja Kallas, who will not know how to continue from now on.
It would be good if the Western Balkan region, especially the relations between Kosovo and Serbia, were not on the agenda of the EU at all, but that this was the result of a stable situation, peace and stability, good neighborly relations and advancement towards the EU. So that it does not need to be a topic in the EU. Because it’s not good to be the subject. But unfortunately it is not so. The region, as NATO has been saying for several years now, is “stable but fragile” and the potential for tensions is always present. Although it cannot do much in other parts, if it is more determined and united, in the Western Balkan region, the EU could remain a relevant factor. But as the past teaches us, the role of the High representative is not even decisive, as it depends on the consensus of the member countries of the European Union. With or without priority, Kallas will have to deal with the dialogue, and what he will do with it is unknown. Perhaps it will surprise us and, unlike its predecessors, have more visible results. At least it will not be possible to say that it created expectations that were not realized.
