Does the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue need Trump's strong hand?

Without the help of the European Union, the Trump administration has brought the four-year war in Ukraine to the point where the possibility of peace talks is being considered. Observers of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue say that the EU remains a powerless party in this process as well, therefore they do not rule out the possibility that Donald Trump will become active in this process as well.

Serbia aims to have Brussels as its capital, but it has its eyes on Moscow. The last one in the Russian capital was Foreign Minister Marko Djuric.

At a time when Kosovo is under economic sanctions due to developments in the north, for visits and relations with Russia, the EU is content with a call that an unnamed spokeswoman forwarded to Serbia today, urging it not to strengthen ties with Russia.

The dialogue mediated by the European Union, since 2013, has produced dozens of agreements, but never implementation.

The EU's remaining outside the negotiating table on Ukraine, at least in the initial phase, according to political analysts, is another signal of the power of the mediator in the dialogue that contains neither a solution nor mutual recognition.

"If we don't move, Trump can take this issue into his own hands and resolve it like with the Washington agreement. It will go to the Washington agreement plus. So, legally binding recognition falls to him," said professor Dritëro Arifi, for RTV Dukagjini.

Arifi thinks that the final agreement would be a summary of all agreements in one document, because right now we are dealing with an EU that doesn't even know what it is looking for in the dialogue.

On the other hand, Abit Hoxha, a professor of media and conflict in Norway, views with concern the approach to how the war in Ukraine and its fate are being discussed. He thinks that the chances of the US becoming very actively involved in the dialogue are small, but he does not rule it out as a possibility.

"We cannot speculate on what will happen in this agreement, but it is safe to say that considering the international agenda, it will not be good for Kosovo if it is faced with the fait accompli of signing an agreement for which it does not negotiate. It is always good to negotiate and dialogue on agreements that it will implement itself," said Hoxha.

In an increasingly unpredictable international politics, Hoxha advises that Kosovo prove itself as a party that takes responsibility in order to be seen as a reliable state and strategic partner. /Dukagjin/