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Pushing for Serbia-Kosovo Peace Deal, U.S. Roils Allies
Source: New York Times
Pushing for Serbia-Kosovo Peace Deal, U.S. Roils Allies
Upending American policy, the Trump Administration is sidelining the E.U., pressuring Kosovo and ignoring Serbia’s erosion of democracy.
By Patrick Kingsley and Kenneth P. Vogel
June 20, 2020, 11:02 a.m. ET
BERLIN — Last October, with the Balkans unsettled and the old tethers of American diplomacy coming apart, the Trump administration dispatched a new envoy to try to solve one of Europe’s longest-running territorial disputes: the two-decade standoff between Serbia and Kosovo.
The move was unconventional. The State Department already had a special envoy to the region, and President Trump’s new emissary, Richard Grenell, was also ambassador to Germany, where his brash style and embrace of right-wing figures broke with diplomatic norms.
Before long, Mr. Grenell offended and alienated European diplomats who had worked hard on Kosovo for years. They accused him of ignoring their own, more evolved peace initiatives, of undermining democracy in Kosovo and of turning a blind eye to budding authoritarianism in Serbia, a Russian ally.
“I’m doubtful that in this way you can really resolve a situation like Kosovo, the way it’s being tried by Grenell,” said Wolfgang Petritsch, a former European Union envoy to Kosovo.
The appointment has been “very detrimental to the solution of the Kosovo issue,” he added. “With Grenell, it’s only been confusion.”
-snip-
Upending American policy, the Trump Administration is sidelining the E.U., pressuring Kosovo and ignoring Serbia’s erosion of democracy.
By Patrick Kingsley and Kenneth P. Vogel
June 20, 2020, 11:02 a.m. ET
BERLIN — Last October, with the Balkans unsettled and the old tethers of American diplomacy coming apart, the Trump administration dispatched a new envoy to try to solve one of Europe’s longest-running territorial disputes: the two-decade standoff between Serbia and Kosovo.
The move was unconventional. The State Department already had a special envoy to the region, and President Trump’s new emissary, Richard Grenell, was also ambassador to Germany, where his brash style and embrace of right-wing figures broke with diplomatic norms.
Before long, Mr. Grenell offended and alienated European diplomats who had worked hard on Kosovo for years. They accused him of ignoring their own, more evolved peace initiatives, of undermining democracy in Kosovo and of turning a blind eye to budding authoritarianism in Serbia, a Russian ally.
“I’m doubtful that in this way you can really resolve a situation like Kosovo, the way it’s being tried by Grenell,” said Wolfgang Petritsch, a former European Union envoy to Kosovo.
The appointment has been “very detrimental to the solution of the Kosovo issue,” he added. “With Grenell, it’s only been confusion.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/world/europe/serbia-kosovo-peace-elections.html