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The Balkans will be one of the US main fronts, so they want the Kosovo issue resolved

5-7 minutes

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Laris Gaiser, a Slovenian analyst and geopolitics professor, claims that the Balkans will become focal point to great powers in the forthcoming months

Source: Kosovo online Thursday, May 21, 2020 | 09:40

He also states that the influence of the United States will be strengthened, while Chinese foreign policy will face the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, pointing out that the appointment of Lajcak and Borrell as special envoys for the dialogue on Kosovo is a wrong move on the part of EU.

"With the current crisis, the Balkans will become even more important for the great powers. Global frictions between China and the United States will intensify, and given that China wanted to exert pressure through the Balkans and Central Europe in order to destabilize the EU and NATO systems, it is normal that Washington will now try to strongly oppose this by using Chinese weaknesses. Chinese foreign policy will suffer long-term consequences due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Balkans will become one of the main fronts for the United States. Under such a scenario, I think the U.S. would want the Kosovo knot to be resolved quickly", he told Kosovo Online.

Asked whether it is now possible to expect a conference that was prepared by official Paris and Berlin before the pandemic, he answered that it is unlikely.

"The conference could be possible, but it is unlikely that it will be organized soon. The EU has suffered a crisis within the crisis and must stabilize first. Due to the lack of an appropriate response to the Italian and Spanish crises, the EU has strengthened the general perception of the importance of individual countries, failing to become anchored in our common destiny", he says, adding:

"COVID-19 has accelerated the process of reshaping the international order. The EU and the EC used to be important projects for the United States after World War II. Now Brexit, along with German dominance in Europe, is the reason for Washington's deeper, renewed engagement in our regional balance of power. The conference is welcome as a clarification on options, but any future conference on Kosovo will be far from the French-German idea present prior to the pandemic".