EU, U.S. Parliamentarians Want Policy on Kosovo, Serbia Reconsidered

Josep Borrell (BETAPHOTO/European Council)

A few dozen European and U.S. parliamentarians addressed a joint letter to the officials of the United States, Europe and Great Britain, requesting that a policy on Kosovo and Serbia be reconsidered.

The letter sent to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and British Foreign Minister James Cleverly was signed by foreign affairs parliamentary committee chairs from ten states, and another 56 parliamentarians from the European Parliament and Great Britain, Latvia,  Lithuania, Ukraine, Austria, Italy, Germany, Holland and other states.

The letter signed by, among others, the chair of the British Committee on Foreign Affairs, Alicia Kearns, her counterpart in Bundestag, Michael Roth, the chair of Bundestag’s Committee on European Affairs, Toni Hofreiter, expressed concerns over the current policy the EU, the U.S. and Great Britain had pursued towards Serbia and Kosovo, requesting that it should be reconsidered.

“Kosovo is a sovereign country and a functioning democracy. This fact should form the basis of our common policy towards the current crisis.” the signatories said on Twitter, on Aug. 7. “Serbia’s attempts to disrupt democratic elections in Kosovo must be publicly denounced as foreign interference, and concrete action must be taken to hold Serbia accountable if it continues to undermine free and fair elections. It will help facilitate future elections with full participation of all communities in the municipalities in the north,” the letter reads.

The signatories added that the West needed to consider a policy of deterrence diplomacy to resolve the ongoing crisis, make it possible for the EU-mediated dialogue to give positive results and to implement the Ohrid agreement. They also wanted a return to balance and proportionality in dealing with Kosovo and Serbia. “The current approach is not working. We ask that the international community learn from our past, and ensure that we do not pursue Belgrade-centric policies in the Balkans,” the letter went on to say.