Negotiations on Kosovo in the future “likely to be in troika form” in Brussels, diplomats from EU headquarters told Belgrade based daily Danas.
As they explain, this implies that “in addition to representatives of Belgrade and Pristina, the United States Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, the EU Special Envoy for those negotiations, and one of the OSCE-like representatives would be found at the negotiating table.”
Diplomats say there is a “high chance” that Brussels official Angelina Eichhorst will become EU special envoy in the Brussels Dialogue, but no final decision has been made yet.
According to unofficial information of Danas, Eichhorst is considered a “pragmatic Dutchwoman” and a “compromise solution”, i.e. “she would be at will” to the most influential EU member states – Germany and France.
On the other hand, some sources in the West claim that Angelina Eichhorst “is not of sufficient political weight” to serve as EU Special Envoy in the Brussels Dialogue, so it is “still possible” that the task, however, goes to someone from Germany. In this context, interlocutors of Danas informally say that “the name of Bundestag member Peter Beyer is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate”, but that Manuel Saracin, German parliamentarian, also has “certain chances”.
In the end, some Berlin circles, writes Danas, believe that the right choice for EU Special Envoy would be Gernot Erler, a former official at the German Foreign Ministry.
Yesterday, the German embassy in Pristina denied for Koha Ditore media claims that Germany would have a special, “national” envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, “because the EU should mediate the process”, while sources of the Radio Free Europe from the German government, have confirmed that official Berlin is “very interested that the EU Special Envoy” come from Germany.
