American diplomat blamed the US and EU for the Kosovo problem
Former US Ambassador to Serbia William Montgomery said the international community is putting the Serbian government in a bind by insisting on continued dialogue with Kosovo.
He stated this in an interview with Tanjug agency.
“I'm afraid that the international community is putting the Serbian government in a bind because I'm not sure the international community understands the consequences of its actions,” Montgomery said.
In addition, the ex-ambassador added that it was precisely because of the concessions made by the West that Kurti could go too far and cause a reaction from Belgrade, which neither Serbia nor the world wants.
In response to a question about how he sees the US role and the outcome of the dialogue in Brussels, and what can be expected before September 1, that is, until the implementation of the decision on license plates and personal documents is postponed, Montgomery said that he is not optimistic.
“What kind of “dialogue” can they expect when Kurti and the Albanians are not forced to honor the agreements already reached in the dialogue, he asks and states: “Why should the Serbian government make further concessions when Kurti is allowed to ignore previous commitments?”, the diplomat noted. .
The ex-ambassador sees the problem in the fact that Kurti is extremely dangerous and that it seems likely that “out of calculation or stupidity” he will go too far and thereby cause a sharp reaction from Serbia. Moreover, such a development of events is undesirable both for Belgrade and for the international community.
“But they continue to mitigate Kurti's responsibility. Why? Because the US and most EU countries want Serbia to recognize Kosovo as independent within its current borders. This is their real goal. If the current EU/US policy continues to encourage Kurti, responsibility for any possible violence will fall on them,” the agency’s interlocutor emphasized.
The problem, in his opinion, is that the EU does not understand that “remarkable soft power” is completely ineffective in this case.
“For this to work, the EU must open and close all other sections and deal with Kosovo only when the end of the road to EU membership is in sight,” says Montgomery.
He recalls that under these conditions, no one in Serbia has any reason to believe that EU membership is even close.
An American diplomat blamed the US and the EU for the Kosovo problem.