Serwer: Vucic will not recognize Kosovo

BELGRADE -- John Serwer, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said that he believes President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, will not recognize the independence of Kosovo

Serwer: Vucic will not recognize Kosovo

BELGRADE -- John Serwer, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said that he believes President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, will not recognize the independence of Kosovo

Close the entire text of the article here

Yarr65/Depositphotos

"He (Vucic) says he will not. I believe him. I think that Serbia will most likely elect a new president before it recognizes Kosovo," Serwer said in an interview with Vreme.

Serwer said that he thinks that there is no political illusion that Kosovo is still Serbia.

"All politicians in Serbia understand that they will never rule over Kosovo again and that they will have to recognize its sovereignty and independence as a condition for joining the European Union," Serwer said, Kosovo online reports.

He added that politicians in Serbia "are the only ones still using the Kosovo issue to gain some political points at home and divert attention from the bad economic situation."

To the statement that a huge number of people in Serbia claim that Kosovo is the heart of Serbia, repeating the mantra of "Serbian holy land and spiritual cradle", Serwer replied "that if they do, they should go and visit Kosovo and almost no one does."

Serwer compared the Washington agreement to a "thin soup".

"I think it's all a thin soup. If you really want true normalization, you would need to add a lot of meat," Server emphasized, adding that the agreement from Washington is just a tool in Trump's campaign.

"That agreement will not be worth the paper on which it is printed, unless its implementation is accompanied by huge support." So far, there has been almost nothing, or very little, except statements from chambers of commerce. That's the only value", Serwer said.

Serwer agreed with the statement that the Washington agreement still enables the strengthening of economic cooperation between Serbia and the so-called Kosovo, which is important for both sides.

"Of course, start removing customs barriers immediately and accept Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state in regional and international organizations, even if there is no mutual recognition," Serwer said.

He assessed that the plan for the exchange of territories was not buried.

"It's not. It's a zombie wandering the earth waiting for the next fool to revive it," Serwer said.

Asked if he thinks that the Balkans is really a battlefield for Russia, which is trying to stop the expansion of NATO and the EU, Serwer said that he thinks that is Russia's goal.

"Yes, that is Russia's goal, including endangering the rule of democracy in Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo. However, Moscow does not spend too much resources in these efforts. All this is done cheaply and by outdated methods. The Balkans are not more important to Moscow than to Washington. That's why Brussels would have to focus much more on that region," Serwer concluded.