“EU Serbia’s only partner”

Balkan expert Martin Sletzinger said that Serbia’s key partner for the future must be the EU. He also said that NATO membership does not have to be a prerequisite for EU integration. “EU Serbia’s only partner” Sletzinger told daily Politika that the U.S. should move out of Kosovo, and that separating Kosovo from Serbia sets a bad precedent, but that this was not a problem for the official policies of the U.S. “The argument was that if 90 percent of the population wants to be separated, let them do it. We will see whether this logic will be used in a few decades when parts of Texas, Florida or California become populated with a majority of Hispanics and they decided that they no longer want to be governed by the state capitals,” he said. “In any case, the U.S. was part of the problem in Kosovo the entire time, not part of the solution. In my opinion, we need to get out of there quickly. We need to secure military support, but we should leave everything political to the Europeans, because the U.S. dirtied its hands by not treating all of the sides in the Kosovo issue equally,” Sletzinger said. He said that the biggest problem was that the U.S. was never objective. “In the beginning, it was stated that we are not absolutely for independence, that we are not pro-Albanian or anti-Serb, but in reality, everything we did in the early 1990s and later, including the peace process, shows that the U.S. was for Kosovo independence, and that it pressured its allies to recognize Kosovo, in my opinion, way too early,” he said. He added that America was the first country that sent an ambassador to Pristina, which he said was funny, because Kosovo is not a country that administers itself. Sletzinger said that America and Serbia are now making concrete and honest moves towards improving relations, which was shown by the visit made to Belgrade by Vice President Joe Biden, which is “very important when taking into consideration his sometimes very strong positions on Bosnia and Kosovo.” “The message of everything is the belief that there is no stability in the Balkans without a stable Serbia,” said Sletzinger, who served a ten-year stint as the director of Eastern European studies in Washington’s Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. He said that Bosnia-Herzegovina must continue what was begun with the Dayton Accords. “The essence of the problem is the incorrect belief of many Bosniaks that, after everything that happened in the war, all of Bosnia should be their country. That is not the right approach. Christianity is older than Islam on the Bosnian territory,” he said. “Bosnia will never be truly powerful as a state that is administered from the center, but is can be stronger and more effective than it is now,” Sletzinger said, adding that another Dayton-like meeting is needed, with all great powers participating, including the U.S., but with the EU leading the process this time.

“EU Serbia’s only partner”

Sletzinger told daily Politika that the U.S. should move out of Kosovo, and that separating Kosovo from Serbia sets a bad precedent, but that this was not a problem for the official policies of the U.S.

“The argument was that if 90 percent of the population wants to be separated, let them do it. We will see whether this logic will be used in a few decades when parts of Texas, Florida or California become populated with a majority of Hispanics and they decided that they no longer want to be governed by the state capitals,” he said.

“In any case, the U.S. was part of the problem in Kosovo the entire time, not part of the solution. In my opinion, we need to get out of there quickly. We need to secure military support, but we should leave everything political to the Europeans, because the U.S. dirtied its hands by not treating all of the sides in the Kosovo issue equally,” Sletzinger said.

He said that the biggest problem was that the U.S. was never objective.

“In the beginning, it was stated that we are not absolutely for independence, that we are not pro-Albanian or anti-Serb, but in reality, everything we did in the early 1990s and later, including the peace process, shows that the U.S. was for Kosovo independence, and that it pressured its allies to recognize Kosovo, in my opinion, way too early,” he said.

He added that America was the first country that sent an ambassador to Priština, which he said was funny, because Kosovo is not a country that administers itself.

Sletzinger said that America and Serbia are now making concrete and honest moves towards improving relations, which was shown by the visit made to Belgrade by Vice President Joe Biden, which is “very important when taking into consideration his sometimes very strong positions on Bosnia and Kosovo.”

“The message of everything is the belief that there is no stability in the Balkans without a stable Serbia,” said Sletzinger, who served a ten-year stint as the director of Eastern European studies in Washington’s Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies.

He said that Bosnia-Herzegovina must continue what was begun with the Dayton Accords.

“The essence of the problem is the incorrect belief of many Bosniaks that, after everything that happened in the war, all of Bosnia should be their country. That is not the right approach. Christianity is older than Islam on the Bosnian territory,” he said.

“Bosnia will never be truly powerful as a state that is administered from the center, but is can be stronger and more effective than it is now,” Sletzinger said, adding that another Dayton-like meeting is needed, with all great powers participating, including the U.S., but with the EU leading the process this time.