Southeast Europe Studies professor at Graz University Florian Bieber said the proposed border change was “much more complicated in practice than as an idea.”
Professor Bieber told Euronews portal that the deal between Belgrade and Pristina on border changes might inspire similar ambitions in the region. He flagged Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro as areas that might demand change.
He thought that the president of Serbian and Kosovo, Aleksandar Vucic and Hashim Thaci weren’t “particularly concerned by the larger political implications.”
“I think they are both very much motivated by personal, political survival and power,” Bieber said.
He added the deal was more plausible now than it had been six months ago, but both leaders agreeing on the details of the change “rather than just talking about it” would be the real turning point.
When asked about whether EU might block the deal, Bieber said that the EU commissioner for enlargement negotiations, Johannes Hahn, implored the two leaders to make sure any eventual deal would not destabilize the Balkans. He assessed that it was a “high-risk strategy” because “something that seemed unachievable before suddenly becomes possible.”
See at: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2018&mm=08&dd=28&nav_id=104948
