"It will be surprise if Kosovo doesn't become new Molenbeek"

"It will be surprise if Kosovo doesn't become new Molenbeek"

Ferguson described extremism as a global movement that targets even secular communities and turns them into followers of an extreme version of Islam, and added: "We have created an unstable and dangerous state."

Although he thinks the intervention in Kosovo was a success, Ferguson points out that the mistake was made later, "when Kosovo's independence was recognized."

He said this was a strategic mistake of the West, and that he "cannot see how any democratic president of Serbia could recognize Kosovo."

This in turn means that Serbian accession to European Union is "almost impossible," said the British historian.

Asked whether Serbia's EU membership is impossible because of Kosovo, Ferguson said that "the West should think about this again."

"If peace and stability in the Balkans is in our interest, then there is little point in Kosovo being an obstacle to Serbia's EU integration. Serbia also has to accept that Kosovo will never be a part of Serbia," said he.

"So we need some ambiguous meaning of the term, to avoid being clear and specific in this respect, not demand that Serbia recognizes Kosovo unambiguously," said Ferguson, who has been ranked as "one of the 100 most influential people" by the Time magazine.

He cited the example of Taiwan, noting that relations between the U.S. and China would never have moved forward had the United States insisted on Taiwan's independence. Instead Washington accepted the Chinese view on the matter, "but allowed the Taiwanese to behave as if they were independent.""

"In international relations, you have to reach for such things if you want to achieve an important strategic objective, such as the enlargement of the EU and the entry of Serbia into the EU," said Ferguson.

He added that by joining the EU Serbia would "gain in importance." According to him, the same happened to Portugal, Spain, Poland, "which received an incentive to build the rule of law, reduce corruption and adopt European standards."

"It would be foolish of Serbia not to follow the example of Slovenia and Croatia. For Serbia, there is no such thing as a Russian alternative. It's not something particularly attractive, as we have seen in Ukraine," said Ferguson.

Ferguson is in Belgrade to promote his book, "Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist," published in Serbian by CIRSD, a think tank headed by Serbia's former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, currently a candidate for next UN secretary-general.