"Kosovo is frozen conflict, partition only fair solution"

Source: Beta

BELGRADE -- Kosovo is basically a frozen conflict and the partition would be the only fair solution, says former CIA Deputy Chief of the Balkan Task Force Steven Meyer.

He told Belgrade-based weekly NIN that Washington’s basic stance on Serbia “has not changed for the last 15 years” and added that the U.S. administration “will stick to the policy of Kosovo’s independence and position that Serbia needs to join the EU and NATO”.
“Americans will not strongly pressure Belgrade any time soon, meaning until Belgrade makes its position clearer. Therefore, the first question is not what the U.S. policy will be like but what Belgrade’s policy will be like,” said Meyer, who is also a professor at the U.S. National Defense University (NDU).

He believes that Serbia has a chance to change the dynamics of its relations with Washington.

“But in order to do that it needs to act more independently and to be less obedient to Washington or Brussels than the previous government,” Meyer added.

He believes that the new government will not have a significantly different stance on Kosovo than the previous one.

“The new government needs to pay strict attention to the internal-political sensitivity to any sudden steps in the process of acceptance of Kosovo’s independence. At the same time Belgrade will not want to insult Washington or Brussels and this is why it will make sure not to give any support to some nationalistic attitude,” Meyer pointed out.

“In short, Kosovo has basically become a frozen conflict and I do not expect this to change any time soon. I have been saying for the last ten years that the partition is the only fair solution,” he concluded.