Serbian media quoted Balkan experts Florian Bieber and Tim Judah, who expressed surprise at the announced appointment of Richard Grenell as special envoy for negotiations.

Professor at the University of Grazz, Bieber wondered what the role of Matthew Palmer was, the recently appointed US Secretary of State's Special Representative for the Balkans.

"If Trump appoints Richard Grenell as special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, what than is the role of Matthew Palmer?" Bieber wrote on Twitter.

The Washington John Hopkins University’s panel “Western Balkans (WB): Managing the Challenges” dealt with the regional leaders’ real readiness to get closer to the West, adding it should more clearly criticise the WB’s regimes, the Voice of America (VOA) reported on Thursday, as carried by the FoNet news agency.

"Great" powers want to deal with the Western Balkans now, according to a South East Europe expert from the University of Graz.

"Both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, who have not always been united in their policy towards the Balkans, now want to be on same side of the rope and put under control the failed EU negotiations," Bieber said on the occasion of the upcoming conference in Berlin.

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."

Neither Serbian nor Kosovo presidents want a quick solution to the Kosovo problem, Professor at the Centre for South-East European Studies in Graz, Florian Bieber told TV N1.

“I ask myself whether both presidents want some kind of quick solution," Bieber asked, adding that "they want to keep talking about it."

"The EU would later be tending to other things - the rule of law, corruption, so I think that the signing of some legally binding document would either way not be taking place in the spring," Bieber said.

Professor of the Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz, Florian Bieber assessed that Serbia-Kosovo agreement must lead toward abolishment of the UN SC Resolution 1244, Beta news agency is reporting.

According to Bieber the agreement should lead toward a new UN SC resolution that would either replace or abolish Resolution 1244, thus providing Kosovo to become a UN member. However, British journalist and analyst Tim Judah thinks that the text of the agreement does not have to be in contradiction with the Resolution 1244.

Op-ed by Florian Bieber, professor at the University of Graz and coordinator of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG). Bieber will be a speaker on the event “Beyond Berlin: What Does the Next Decade Hold for the Western Balkans?”, organized by Chatham House, European Fund for the Balkans and DG Near in London on 10 July.

See more at: https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2018/07/10/time-ditch-berlin-process/