Ned Price, State Department spokesperson/Screenshot Youtube
The U.S. State Department has said that recent “unwarranted speculation” about changing borders in the Balkans along ethnic lines “risk fostering instability in the region and evokes memories of past tensions.”
An informal diplomatic document, the so-called non-paper, which has been for a while circulating among EU officials, proposes a division of Bosnia and Herzegovina and unification of Kosovo and Albania, Voice of America (VoA) reported on April 27.
“A stable, prosperous future for the Western Balkans must be based on good governance, rule of law, multi-ethnic democracy, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press statement on April 26. He added that “the United States is committed to supporting the countries of the Western Balkans on their path to European integration and membership in key European and Euro-Atlantic institutions.”
Price stressed that Washington was “committed to helping the countries of the Western Balkans deepen their own regional economic partnerships, achieve their climate goals, counter Russia’s energy coercion through diversification and clean energy development, and combat corruption and organized crime.”
“We also want to help the region grow and prosper while protecting strategic infrastructure and industries against China’s malign practices,” Price said.
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