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Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Berlin, summit on the future of the Balkans But Italy is excluded

Convened by Merkel and Macron to discuss how to stabilize the region. Kosovo and Serbia are pushing for an exchange of territories. US favorable, Mogherini opens

Absent Italy, now invariably excluded from the tables where real European matches are played, the summit on the Western Balkans held in Berlin was not and could not produce final decisions. But it has served to open an overall dialogue that is no longer avoidable on the stabilization of a region, never really freed from its endemic and potentially explosive conflicts. Convened together by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the Berlin meeting saw the participation of the leaders of Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign policy, Federica Mogherini. "We need a special impulse, it's a small step on a long road," the chancellor explained. "We have no intention of dictating a solution: we must advance without taboos and without increasing tensions," the French president echoed. Of the many issues on the agenda, the hottest was the crisis in relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

The peace negotiations, mediated by the European Union, have been suspended since the summer. Belgrade has never recognized the independence of Pristina, proclaimed in 2008. While, after the break-up in the negotiations, Kosovo imposed 100% punitive duties on all imports from Serbia. The recognition of independence for one, the end of duties for the other are the preconditions set by the two countries to resume negotiations. Also controversial is the idea, supported by the two presidents, the Serbian Aleksandar Vucic and the Kosovar Hashim Tachi, of an exchange of territories along ethnic lines. Vucic above all sees the shortcut to restart the EU accession negotiations, which today are effectively blocked.

Not opposed by Mogherini and other European countries, including France, supported by the US, the hypothesis of ethnic partition is vehemently opposed by Germany, which perhaps rightly considers any change of borders as the recipe for a new conflagration in the entire Balkan area. How fierce the parties are, confirmed Thaci, who after the interview with Mogherini said that "without the participation of the United States there can be no agreement, so far the EU has proved incapable". Then, to illustrate the point, he walked to the American embassy where he met Ambassador Grenell.

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