The Serbia-Kosovo dispute is back in the news more than two decades after the war ended.
A peace summit that was to be held over the weekend at the White House between the presidents of both countries had to be postponed. But Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic met the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on June 26. And France and Germany are preparing to host a Belgrade-Pristina meeting in July.
Why the sudden burst of interest in Balkans initiatives?
It is fair to say the Trump administration kicked things off. There were “goodwill” talks at the White House in March between Mr Vucic and his Kosovar counterpart Hashim Thaci. Then in mid-June, Richard Grenell, Donald Trump’s special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo dialogue, announced further talks between the two leaders. With Mr Trump having earlier called for “a historic accord”, there was excitement and trepidation about a US-brokered final deal for a contentious partition.
The EU was pointedly not invited. The snub drew a sniffy response from the bloc’s envoy for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak. Within 24 hours of Mr Grenell’s bombshell tweet, Mr Lajcak was in the capitals of both Serbia and Kosovo. It was seen as a piqued attempt by the EU to play catchup in its own backyard.
Opinions are divided about the Trump administration’s motivation in pushing dialogue in a divided corner of Europe. Some say that Mr Trump wanted to appear statesmanlike before the November 3 US presidential election. Having failed to secure any worthwhile foreign policy successes on North Korea and Iran, a photo opportunity as the Balkans’ peacemaker-in-chief would have been handy for his re-election campaign.
The June 27 Washington summit got derailed because Mr Thaci was indicted on war crimes charges by an EU and US-backed tribunal in The Hague
But there is also the possibility of a more strategic calculus. US re-engagement would go some way towards pushing back China and Russia’s own efforts to expand their influence in the Balkans. The EU has less sway than it might want.
Despite years of trying, the bloc has had little success in shepherding Serbia and Kosovo towards the gradual “normalisation” of their relationship. Meanwhile, both Serbia and Kosovo have grown increasingly cynical about the EU’s promise to one day embrace them as member states. Serbia’s laborious six-year attempt to join the EU is sputtering. Kosovo, which the EU regards as a potential candidate for membership, is yet to be granted even visa-free access to the bloc despite meeting the required criteria.
It is significant that in the early days of the coronavirus crisis, Mr Vucic disdained European solidarity as a “fairy tale” even as he praised the promptness with which the Chinese despatched medical assistance to Belgrade. As for Mr Thaci, he has said he would personally participate only in peace talks led by the White House, not the EU envoy.
As it turned out, the June 27 Washington summit got derailed because Mr Thaci was indicted on war crimes charges by an EU and US-backed tribunal in The Hague. Just three days before the pomp and circumstance of a possible White House agreement, the Kosovar president was charged for his alleged role during the 1998-99 Kosovo War and its aftermath.
The timing puts a question mark on Mr Thaci’s involvement in future peace talks, no matter who is mediating. In the short term, this is likely to be the EU. All the signs point to the bloc viewing the western Balkans with new urgency, if only to retain its relevance and stature in the region. With Germany assuming the EU’s six-month rotating presidency on July 1, the stalled Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is expected to be one of its priorities.
That said, it is not clear how, or even if, the EU can further a deal. Two years ago, both Mr Thaci and Mr Vucic had mooted a land swap as a way to finally end decades of wrangling. The Trump administration expressed openness to exploring the idea. However, some European leaders, led by German chancellor Angela Merkel, opposed it. The argument goes that such a redrawing of borders would normalise ethnic divisions. Europe also fears that any land swap could become a destabilising template for the region.
It is true that “Balkanisation”, a term that retains its two-century-old negative connotations, is a worrying prospect. Were Kosovo and Serbia to begin serious talks on redrawing their borders, there could be a domino effect all around the region.
Serbs are a minority in Albanian-dominant Kosovo and many still consider themselves citizens of Serbia. Any exchange of territory would be a fraught and difficult matter. Serbs also live in Bosnia-Hercegovina, where they have their own republic. What’s to stop Bosnian Serbs demanding a referendum on the status of Republika Srpska, which is one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Hercegovina? Serbia might have to push back on Bosniak Muslim calls for a Greater Bosnia. And western Macedonia, which is a part of Greece, as well as Montenegro, could be faced with demands from their Albanian communities for a Greater Albania.
What is the alternative? The tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have gone on for far too long. After the 1991 break-up of Yugoslavia, Nato launched a bombing campaign against Serbia to stop what Nato described as ethnic cleansing of Kosovo’s mostly Muslim Albanians. The war ended in June 1999 and Kosovo, an autonomous province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008. An uneasy impasse followed with Serbia refusing to recognise Kosovo’s statehood.
EU-mediated negotiations, which lasted nine years from 2011, did not break the deadlock. If both countries were to be drawn deeper and tighter into the bloc it would technically lessen the relevance of national borders. That might be a way forward. But that would need the EU to be decisive and determined.
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Lowest Test scores
26 - New Zealand v England at Auckland, March 1955
30 - South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Feb 1896
30 - South Africa v England at Birmingham, June 1924
35 - South Africa v England at Cape Town, April 1899
36 - South Africa v Australia at Melbourne, Feb. 1932
36 - Australia v England at Birmingham, May 1902
36 - India v Australia at Adelaide, Dec. 2020
38 - Ireland v England at Lord's, July 2019
42 - New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, March 1946
42 - Australia v England in Sydney, Feb. 1888
Brief scoreline:
Crystal Palace 2
Milivojevic 76' (pen), Van Aanholt 88'
Huddersfield Town 0
How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
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SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
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MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
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What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
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Company profile
Name: One Good Thing
Founders: Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke
Based in: Dubai
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 5 employees
Stage: Looking for seed funding
Investors: Self-funded and seeking external investors
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The specs: 2019 Mini Cooper
Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
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Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
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Key facilities
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
At a glance - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020
Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
50 million homes powered by renewable energy
6.5 billion litres of water saved
26 million school children given solar lighting
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
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